Forgetting the Past
by cpagirl
Summary: Bella Swan leaves home to go to a boarding school leaving behind all her problems. She meets the Cullens and the Hales, and tries to forget about her life at home. Can she do it with the help of her new friends? AH. Way OOC. Mostly the usual pairings.
1. Prologue

**New Story! Yay! Just to be clear, the chapters in this story will be about 1000 words each. I may have longer ones, but I can update more quickly when they are somewhere in that range.**

**Disclaimer: I love Stephenie Meyer because she created Twilight. I hate Stephenie Meyer because she won't let me have it… We have a love/hate relationship :-/**

Bella's POV

_Why?_

I keep asking myself.

_Why here? Why me? Why now?_ About six months before I boarded this plane, I had become the luckiest girl alive. Well, that's how I felt anyway, and that's how my whole school had treated me.

I just got the hottest guy in school, Jacob Black, to be my boyfriend.

Jake the Football Captain's girlfriend. The hot kid Jake's girlfriend. The coolest kid in school's girlfriend. These were the type of things people had been calling me. Ok, so they didn't know my name, but it was nice to be recognized a little.

The guys would look at me differently now. As if I was a person. As if I weren't invisible. The girls looked at me differently, too now. They also now noticed me as a person. They didn't ignore me anymore, instead, they looked at me with hatred and jealously. Even the girls that pretended to be my friend just to get close to Jacob would show signs of jealousy every now and then.

Well, lucky for those girls, I was gone now. My parents shipped me off to boarding school.

Not really, of course. Not like some parents threaten to do to their kids… instead, they did this for me, thinking that it would be good for me. They were spending thousands of dollars for me to come here, even though I didn't want to come.

I had made it pretty clear before leaving, that I didn't want to go. I had through a major fit… and I had never been one for temper tantrums. I felt like a little kid, yelling at my parents. I probably looked like one too, stomping on the floor in my bedroom, and everything. This is how it went…

_The day had come. Why were they doing this to me? It's just a big waste of money, seeing as I don't even want to go. When I finally finished throwing a few belongings in my bag, not caring whether they were folded, or even if they were important. I just grabbed what was close to me, and chucked it in, as my mother stood at the door, watching me with sad eyes._

"_There, I'm packed." I mumbled through my teeth as I zippered up my suitcase. _

"_Well, I guess we better get going if we want to make this flight." My mom said walking towards the door._

"_See, mom, that's the problem. I don't want to make this flight." I said looking my mom right in the eyes._

"_Bella. We are paying a lot of money for you to go to the Academy, and it would help us out a lot if you would just agree without all of this." My mother said, obviously trying not to get angry. I on the other hand wasn't doing such a great job at that._

"_Just agree? You want me to completely ignore the fact that I have a perfect boyfriend, a perfect life, and just agree to leave this all behind?" Yeah… because that was going to happen._

_Now it was Charlie, my father, who was yelling. "Stop being so stubborn Bella! We are trying to help you! Maybe, if you would take the time to appreciate anything, you will thank us someday, for giving you such a great opportunity! But no, instead, you are completely ungrateful, and won't think about anything except that stupid crush of yours!" His face was bright red at the end of his speech. _

"_A Crush?! You think Jake is just a crush? I love him dad! He is way more than a stupid crush!" I was probably the same shade of red that he was right now. _

_He scoffed. "Love? You think you love this boy? You don't even know what love is!" Now, I was way past mad. I was furious. _

"_Oh, and you do? Maybe if you knew what love was, you and mom wouldn't be fighting all the time! Maybe if you knew what love was, you would love me enough to realize this is the worst thing that had ever happened to me, and you are the cause of it! Right now, I'm feeling the opposite of love towards you. Right now I feel hatred. Hatred for making me leave behind the great life of mine. All of my friends, and my amazing boyfriend. If you loved me, you wouldn't make me do this. But you don't love me. You hate me! Just like I HATE YOU!" As soon as I said this, I grabbed my suitcase, ran out of the house towards my truck, and started driving towards Jacobs._

_I arrived at Jacobs's house around 8:15 at night. The flight I was supposed to be on left at 9:00. But I didn't care. I wasn't going anywhere. _

_The light in the living room were on, and I knew that Billy, Jake's dad, went fishing with some friends from the La Push reservation. That meant Jake was home. _

_I had said told Jake two weeks ago that I was leaving, and he seemed to be upset about it. We said our final goodbye's this afternoon. It was horrible, but I did it._

_He thought that I already left. After all, I hadn't been planning on coming to see him again before boarding the plane, but now, I wouldn't be boarding the plane anyway. _

_I decided since he thought I was gone, that I would surprise him. So I found the spare key in the bush next to the door where he hid it, and opened the door. I was very quiet. I wanted to sneak up on him like he had done to me so many times. I sighed at the memories, and almost blew my cover. I slowly walked towards the living room, careful not to make the old floorboards creak at the shirt of weight. _

_I could see the couch now. I also saw two legs. One of which I didn't recognize._

_A women's leg._

_The tears, already threatening to spill were in my eyes now, as I approached the open doorway to the living room. I was careful not to make any accusations yet. Maybe this was all a big mistake. _

_I took one look in the living room and realized this was a mistake. Not my guess of Jake cheating on me, but coming here. Oh yeah, coming here was a big mistake. _

_Jake was sitting on the couch, with Tanya Denali, one of the jealous girls from my school, straddling him. _

_When I walked in, they were in the middle of a total make-out session._

_Tanya, who had been facing me, noticed me, and decided to get me really angry, so she started tugging at his shirt while kissing him even more violently, if that were possible. That was enough for me. _

_I turned around, walked back out the house, not being as careful since Jake wouldn't hear me if I put a blow horn to his ear, and walked right out the house._

_I figured Tanya would never tell Jake I was here, because we both knew that he would just call me up and apologize. Tanya wanted him all to herself, and I didn't want some bogus apology. So I just decided that Jake would never know that I knew what a jerk he was. _

_The second he thinks I'm gone and he chooses another girl to invite to his house. It was almost sad that I fell for that. I wondered how many other girls had been on that same couch, and I shivered at the thought. _

_The tears were now streaming down my face, and I could barely see. The feeling of betrayal and stupidity was running through me. I hopped in my truck and decided to go to the only place I could think of. _

_The Airport._

_After all, the only reason I really didn't want to go was Jake. Now my parents would be happy, although I was still furious with them because they were going to force me to go when I didn't want to. _

_I still didn't really want to, but what choice did I have? My parents? No. Jake? Not in a million years. And I really didn't have many friends except for Angela, because every other girl was too jealous to even consider being my friend for real. _

_As for Angela, if I stayed here in Forks, I was likely to run in to my parents, or Jake at some point. Since Charlie is the Police Chief, and Jake is head quarterback/most popular kid in school. So I started driving towards the airport. Almost crashing every once in a while since I still could barely see. It was easier once I got on the highway, since it's mostly straight from there. _

_Surprisingly, I arrived at the airport without any deaths caused by me. I still had ten minutes to get on the plane, so I ran towards my section of the airport, and soon after, boarded the plane._

So here I was, sitting on the plane, crying my eyes out as I flew over my old town, and soon later, my eyelids got heavy, and I drifted into a deep sleep.

**Did you like it? Now more than ever I need you guys to review! Please do! **

**Also, As you can tell already, it's OOC. Bella would never throw a fit like that if this was in Twilight. She will be able to stand up for herself better, too.**

**I am actually pretty pleased with this chapter, even though it's only the first. I wasn't sure how well this would go, but I like it. But who cares what I think?! I want to know what you think, so please REVIEW!!**

**Love,**

**Christine**


	2. Furniture Shopping

**Yay! You guys liked it! I already love this story, and I'm hoping it will have a good turnout. But we before we get to far ahead of ourselves, I'm just going to give you guys chapter 2 :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Edward, Bella, Emmett, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, Carlisle, or Esme. Dang it! I don't even own Jacob!!**

Previously: So here I was, sitting on the plane, crying my eyes out as I flew over my old town, and soon later, my eyelids got heavy, and I drifted into a deep sleep.

Bella's POV

I awoke to the flight attendant's annoying high pitched voice over the intercom. "Alrighty passengers! We are now landing this flight! Please buckle your seatbelts and turn your cell-phones off as we prepare for landing. Thank you for flying Jet Blue! Have a nice day." Uhhhh. I groaned out loud. Just what I needed. Waking up to the sound of some flight attendant's annoying voice telling me I had just arrived at my own personal hell.

Why did I decide to come here? Oh, that's right, Jacob. I wished I hadn't thought about that, although when I did, I was almost grateful for being here. Almost.

I did what the flight attendant had asked, and I sat there wondering what this was going to be like. Maybe it wouldn't be half bad. I could make it however I wanted, so I decided to make this fun.

I was determined to make this good. I was completely starting over.

I would do my best to forget all about the life I was leaving behind. Or try to anyway… I would try things I had never done. And I would make a lot of awesome friends.

I practically scoffed at myself when I realized what I'd been saying.

Try things I'd never done_… like what?_ Make a lot of awesome friends… _yeah that one had a good chance of happening _I thought to myself sarcastically. The one thing I knew I would do is forget about my past. Although, I knew it wouldn't be easy.

I exited the plane and found my only suitcase. I rented a cab, and then remembered about my truck. I didn't want it and I wasn't planning on keeping it, so I texted my old friend Quil that I met from Jake, telling him to take it. Quil was one of Jakes nicest friends. Him and Seth were the only two besides Jake I would ever really talk to. I liked Embry too, but he didn't talk to me as much.

Seth wasn't old enough to drive though, so it only seemed fair Quil would get it. He was happy to get a free truck, even if it could only reach 60 mph, and I was happy to get it off my hands.

I took a cab to the Academy, and walked right towards the building that had said Front Office on it. The women at the front desk, Ms. McLean, signed me in, given me a dorm number, a dorm key, a map of campus, and my schedule, telling me to come talk to her if I had any problems, although I could tell she didn't mean it.

Nervously, I walked towards building 4, where my dorm was. I walked up to number 118, but I didn't have to knock, because the door was wide open, revealing a small pixie like girl jumping up and down on her bed, wearing black soffe shorts, and a black "be be" tank top. She was really getting into the music, dancing and singing to "Womanizer" the new Britney Spears song, totally oblivious of me, since her eyes were shut tight, obviously imagining a different scene.

I noticed the free bed. It had no sheets on it, and looked pretty boring. Infact, mostly the whole side of my room looked bare. I decided not to interrupt my roommate's fun, silently laughing to myself how she still didn't notice me. I quickly grabbed a toothbrush and a hairbrush and a new change of clothes.

I headed for the bathroom, and quickly took a shower. I was sure to keep the water cold, so that I wouldn't be tempted to stay in for too long, although after the long, sad flight, even the cold water felt good.

Finally I hopped out of the shower, ran the brush threw my hair a few times, and brushed my teeth. I threw on the jeans, and Holister Co. T-Shirt and headed back into my room.

My roommate, who ever she was, sure had a lot of energy… she was still dancing on her bed like a maniac, completely unaware of her surroundings. The only thing that had changed was the song, which was now playing "Keeps getting better" by Christina Aguilera. It looked like a lot of fun, although I was sure I would just manage to fall right off the bad, flat on my face. I then wrote a short letter to my roommate, not wanting to ruin her fun. It said

_Dear roommate, _

_My name is Bella Swan. I am new here, and am apparently sharing a room with you! Sorry for not introducing myself in person, but you looked like you were having far too much fun. I am going shopping to get some things to make my boring side of the room more fun. Be back later tonight…_

I walked out the door after grabbing my wallet and a sweatshirt, the only one I had, and walked toward the front gate, calling a Taxi on the way.

That was one advantage of being so close to the city. Having a nice form of transportation. And, I wouldn't have to pay to much for it, since all the shops you could dream of were right in the city.

I must have gone to a gazillion stores, only looking for fun things to spice up the room. The problem was, in the city, all of the shops were specialty, so If I went to look for a cute lamp, I had to go into a lighting store, not just a department store where I could find everything I needed. God, how I longed for a Wal-Mart.

I finished after hours of shopping. I had ended up buying purple /blue striped sheets that I noticed my roommate had ones much like it in pink and orange. I also got a plain puffy comforter to go on top. **(A/N: Bella and Alice's sheets are in profile, along with the puffy comforters, and the lamps.) **I was never one for fashion, but I knew enough to say that the white wouldn't make the stripes too bold.

I also bought two cute bedside lamps. One was a light purple and matched my sheets, and the other was pink and would go to my roommate.

I bought a bunch of cute little things that I wanted, or thought would be useful at somepoint, but even after a day this long, did not get a single article of clothing. I noticed this that night when I had gotten home.

My roommate wasn't there. She was probably out partying somewhere, since most kids our age were out on a Friday night. But nope, not me. By the time I was home, I was completely tired out. I couldn't even make my bed with the fresh new sheets I had gotten. But that was when I remembered clothes. I pulled out my last set of clothes , which happened to be pajama's out of my bag. I didn't even have to worry about that now, because the second my head hit the pillow, I was out cold.

**Alright, so Bella has seen her roommate, but doesn't actually know her. She found what her roommate was doing was really funny and didn't want to ruin it. We of course, all know that her roommate is Alice. Besides that, this is mostly filler. I needed to show Bella shopping since she came with close to nothing, and tomorrow she go to get some new clothes. **

**I realize this chapter wasn't the most interesting, but I needed it there, so please review! **

**(Btw, I'm really proud of myself. I have begun, and updated this story, updted my other story, and I wrote an authors note for my other sotry. That's three chapters and one authors not in one day! I am so proud :) More tomorrow probably… Thank you Columbus Day weekend!**

**Love,**

**Christine**


	3. Alice and Rosalie

**Yay! Everyone who reviewed liked it :) here is Chapter three. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight. **

Previously: My roommate wasn't there. She was probably out partying somewhere, since most kids our age were out on a Friday night. But nope, not me. By the time I was home, I was completely tired out. I couldn't even make my bed with the fresh new sheets I had gotten. But that was when I remembered clothes. I pulled out my last set of clothes , which happened to be pajama's out of my bag. I didn't even have to worry about that now, because the second my head hit the pillow, I was out cold.

Bella's POV

_I was at Jacob's house. Everything was exactly the same as it had always been. Cold Tiles, Yellow walls, even the pictures hanging on the wall were the same. But as I walked towards the living room, something had changed. Jacob was there. His arm was around someone's waist on the couch. They were snuggling under a blanket while watching a movie. I called to him, but he didn't hear me. "Jacob! Jacob! Listen to me Jacob! Who is she? Jacob?" I kept calling. The women heard me. It was Tanya. She turned around and snuggled father into Jake's chest. He didn't mind. Instead he just pulled her closer. She snickered at me. I kept calling his name, but he never heard me. Finally she turned around and yelled "Shut up Already!" _

With that I woke up. I realized tears were streaming down my face, but I wasn't sure if I had been crying in my sleep, or if I had just started.

I looked around the room and saw a tall, blonde woman with a beautiful figure, and expensive clothes standing at the foot of my bed yelling at two guys. "Would you just shut up? She's obviously upset about something, and she's sleeping! You better not wake her up Emmett Cullen, or I will be the one to wake you up tomorrow, and you won't like it!" The Blonde yelled at the larger of the two guys. He was huge! He had the biggest muscles I had ever seen in my life and he was looking at the blonde as if he was a five year old with a lost puppy.

The other guy was taller, leaner, and blonde. He was trying not to laugh at, whom I assumed to be Emmett's, face. I noticed my pixie-like roommate standing at the door, pointing out of it. "Get out right now you two." For a small girl she looked menacing. I hoped she wasn't always like this, I would probably get scared of my own roommate soon.

The boys slumped, but walked out the room, and then I saw both girls look at me at once..

I realized I still had tears running down my face from my dream. Well, my nightmare.

"Oh! I'm sorry! Did we wake you up? We were so busy yelling at the guys not to wake you up, we didn't realize how loud we were being." The gorgeous blonde said sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it." I said meaningfully, but my voice cracked.

I could tell they both wanted to know why I was crying, but they barely knew me, and they didn't want it to seem weird. So instead my roommate came up to me and introduced herself. "Hi Bella. I'm Alice, your roommate. You know, the one you saw going crazy yesterday. Sorry about that." I laughed at that, but it must have looked weird since my tears were drying up.

"I'm Rosalie Hale, Alice's best friend. I bet we're going to be seeing a lot of each other." She said sweetly.

"I'm Bella Swan. I just… came here from Phoenix, Arizona." I said wiping away what was left of my tears. "Well, I'm going to take a shower. I'll see you guys later." I said, walking towards my bag. That's when I remembered my clothes dilemma "Oh Shoot!" I muttered to myself although Rosalie and Alice heard me.

"Is there anything we can help you with Bella?" I noticed they were being overly nice. Not that I minded, but whatever I was doing while I was sleeping was pretty bad.

"Oh it's nothing… I just don't have many clothes. I have to go shopping, but I can't exactly go shopping naked… I'll just wear what I did yesterday. No Biggie." I said, slightly embarrassed by the fact that I didn't have any clean clothes yet, while they were wearing extremely expensive clothes, obviously from some designer I hadn't heard of.

As soon as I said that though they both got a large grin on their face and looked at each other, and then me. Then I heard Rosalie shooting orders.

"Alice, go take a shower and get dressed. Then call a cab and meet me at my dorm. Bella, your coming with me."

I was way confused, but she seemed nice enough, so I followed her out of the room, down the hallway to the elevator, and she pressed floor 3, one floor above mine. I followed her down the hall, to a room with the number 287 on it. She got out her key and opened the door revealing her dorm.

It was a single dorm, with bright red walls, and a clean white ceiling. Her bed was made of dark mahogany, as was her dresser. Her Sheets and Curtains which matched were white with red roses on them. What a coincidence.

She led me towards her closet, and stopped. "Pick something." She directed me. I went through her clothes. Most of them were too tight, or too skimpy for my choice. I finally found something decent. It was a long, brown sweater, with an open turtleneck – type collar. It looked innocent enough.

"Oh, that's perfect! My mom bought me that dress last Christmas! It will look great on you!" She sounded excited.

"Dress? This is a dress? I thought it was a shirt!" I exclaimed. She laughed at me, but didn't say anything else. I let the subject drop. "Are you sure you want to let me borrow this? I could just wear what I wore yesterday." I said innocently.

"Yeah right! There is no way I could live with myself if I let you wear the same thing two days in a row." She stated matter-of-factly. At first I thought she was kidding, but I saw her serious expression, and then I started laughing.

"What on earth is so funny?" She asked me smiling.

"Its just… your just… so serious…it's like the world would end or something if you did…" I said in between laughs.

Now she laughed too. "Oh, Just get in the Shower Bella. Alice will be back soon, and then we are going shopping." She said.

When I realized how long it had taken me to pick out an "outfit" I decided to shower quickly. I didn't want to keep my new friends waiting. I was finally ready, and I pulled on the sweater **(A/N: Pic of Sweater and Rosalie's Room in Profile) **a pair of Rosalie's skinny jeans, and a pair of her boots. The jeans were a bit long, but the boot's hid that.

I was extremely grateful of Alice and Rosalie. I had met them a good twenty minutes ago and they were already acting as If I had known them forever. That was good. I needed someone.

When I got out of the shower they were sitting on Rosalie's bed, whispering about something, and when they saw me they immediately jumped up. "The cab will be here any minute. We better get going. There's no time to lose!" Alice sang while skipping down the hallway. I laughed.

"Is she always this way?" I asked Rose.

"Absolutely" She smiled back. I already knew we were all going to be the best of friends.

**Yeah… nothing too exciting. Basically I needed to show you guys that Rose and Alice already liked her, and she liked them. I know right now it's boring, but it will get better! Trust me!**

**Review to make me smiley!**

**Love,**

**Christine**


	4. This is Ridiculous

**Eww. I'm horrible. I know. IM SO SORRY. Especially to my No More Tears to Shed readers, considering that story is way more popular (check it out if you haven't). In all honesty, I don't have a good excuse of why I didn't update, besides my terrible teachers… :p They pile on the homework. Well enough of **my babbling. On with the story!

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns these characters… I wonder how much she would sell them for… :)**

Previously: When I got out of the shower they were sitting on Rosalie's bed, whispering about something, and when they saw me they immediately jumped up. "The cab will be here any minute. We better get going. There's no time to lose!" Alice sang while skipping down the hallway. I laughed.

"Is she always this way?" I asked Rose.

"Absolutely" She smiled back. I already knew we were all going to be the best of friends.

Rosalie's POV

When Bella went to take a shower I began thinking about her. Why on earth had she been screaming and crying in her sleep? What the heck could have caused her so much pain?

And then Emmett and Jasper had to be so inconsiderate to eavesdrop on her sleep talking… although the fact that she sleep talked was kind of funny. All I could figure out from it though was some girl named Tanya had something to do with her being so upset.

When Bella got past the crying and everything, she was pretty nice. I didn't know her very well of course, but I felt a strong connection towards her.

That may be the only reason why I even like her. In all honesty, hanging out with different people than our usual group was way weird. We almost never had. There had only ever been one exception to that, and I still don't like her. Infact I don't think any of us do, we just put up with her for Alice's brothers sake.

But Bella was different. Maybe it was just that weird connection I felt towards her, maybe it was her crying and screaming in her sleep that made me so curious. I'm not sure what it is, but it's not my usual behavior, and I could see Alice felt the same way.

Just then Alice came back from her shower. The first words that came out of her mouth were "We need to talk." I couldn't agree more.

Without waiting for me to say anything she flew towards the bed where I was sitting and started talking rapidly. "WhatisupwithBella?Idon'tevenknowherandyetIfeellikewe'?Ican'…(What is it with Bella? I don't even know her and yet I feel like we're sisters. Why was she screaming and crying last night? I can't figure it out. Nothing makes sense here.)" I'm not sure how that girl can get it all out in one breath, but she managed to do so. I'm surprised I can even understand it… I guess I've just known her for so long.

"I know. I feel the same way. What was she saying about some girl Tanya? Maybe they were best friends or something. I don't really know, but she deffinately didn't seem to happy when she said her name."

Just then Bella walked in, done with her shower… well I guess we would have to finish this conversation later.

Bella's POV

LONGEST SHOPPING TRIP EVER!!!!

Honestly, I usually don't mind shopping, especially when I need something, but I have now been scarred for life. I don't want to ever go back to another shopping mall in my life!

Light pink, or Dark pink? Cotton, or Satin? Long, short, flowy, tight, low cut, turtle neck…. Who gets this into shopping?!?!?

Only Alice and Rosalie.

I would pick out one thing that I liked in a store and I would walk out the store with about 20 things, and not a single one would be something that I actually wanted.

Not to say that these clothes weren't nice… they were beautiful, and they all looked really good on me. Alice and Rose knew how to shop… they just didn't know how to quit… like I said though, they were really pretty, and I did like them, the problem was the PRICE TAG. I couldn't even look at it. One dress that I got cost more than my entire wardrobe at my house, which I admit, wasn't much… but the WHOLE THING!?!?!?!?! This was ridiculous.

We didn't get back to the dorms until 5:30 that night. We left the house at 9:00 am, and got back at 5:30 that night. Like I said, absolutely ridiculous.

I had bought 6 complete outfits, 3 new dressy dresses, 5 sun dresses, even though it was January **(A.N: She is supposed to be "new" in the school so it couldn't be the beginning of the school year, and in Twilight she goes in January, so I just picked that.) **5 pairs of jeans, 3 jean skirts, 2 corduroys, 3 tanks, 4 short sleeved shirts, 6 long sleeve shirts, and 12 pairs of shoes. 12 PAIRS OF SHOES!!!!! Can you believe it???? **(A.N: If you think this is a bit extreme for one shopping trip, so do I, but this is Alice and Rosalie shopping for Bella's entire wardrobe… think about it.)**

That was Rosalie's idea. I don't think I will even have enough room for all of these. Basically, I went for some winter clothes, and came back with a year round wardrobe, that I didn't pay a cent of!

Their excuse was that I was giving them fun, by giving them an excuse to go shopping, so they pay for it. Unfair. Completely Unfair. Especially since they know that if they weren't paying I wouldn't have gotten any of this stuff.

They told me that they wanted to introduce me to one of Alice's two brothers, who also happened to be Rosalie's boyfriend, and Alice's boyfriend, who happened to be Rosalie's Twin.

Weird.

Anyway I got ready for dinner with my new friends, and decided to make them happy by wearing one of my new shirts. It was a brown and gray striped, off the shoulder sweater shirt, a pair of jeans, and my Brown Uggs. Thank god those happened to be the shoes I wore on the plane. **(A.N: Shirt in Profile!)**

Once I was ready, Alice and Rose were waiting for me again, and we walked down to the main lunch room together.

As soon as I walked in, I immediately noticed the large, brown haired guy, and the tall blonde one that were in my room this morning sitting at a table, smiling and waving at us… well them. Even walking towards the table I noticed Alice and Rose's incredible grace… just thinking about it made me trip… literally.

I was thinking about how jealous I was of their ability to not be clumsy, and what do I do? I fall.

Unbelievable.

By tripping over my own feet, I was falling face first towards the ground. Bracing myself for the pain, I shut my eyes tight, and put my hands in front of my face. My hands hit the ground first, as expected, but before anything else, I felt a sharp pain in my palm.

My hand had actually managed to get ripped up by the heel of Alice's stilettos, since she was in front of me when I fell.

This could only happen to me.

This is what I thought when all the sudden everyone in the room turned to look at me, including the bright, beautiful emerald eyes of an angel. But as soon as I saw them, they were gone.

Instead, Rosalie, Alice, and their boyfriends were around me, all staring at me in worry, except for the big one, who was laughing, but unsuccessfully trying to hide it.

For a second no one said anything, until I got up and said "Yeah… Umm, I'm going to be right back… I think I may need stitches for this one, so I might not be back until late… Sorry for not formally introducing myself, I'm Bella." I said sticking out my bad hand, and then changing it when I realized how bloody and gross it was. "Umm, actually, this looks worse than I thought, maybe I should just go."

"Are you kidding me Bella?" Rosalie asked. "This is serious stuff. Like you said, you might need stitches, and your worried about formally introducing yourself?!" She asked.

Without waiting for an answer to that Alice started pushing me towards the door. For someone so small, she was definitely strong. "Come on Bella. We need to get you fixed up." And we left the building, everyone still staring at me, but I didn't again see those gorgeous emerald eyes.

**I made this one a bit longer, but not to much longer, mostly because I made you wait so long. **

**Review please!!! (And like I said, Check out my other story, it's getting good!) **

**Love,**

**Christine**


	5. Stitches

**Chapter 5! Yay! Thanks so much to my reviewers! I love how most of you can't wait until Edward gets a part. Be Patient! He will come in soon enough :D **

**Disclaimer: These characters all belong to the genius named Stephenie Meyer.**

Previously: Without waiting for an answer to that Alice started pushing me towards the door. For someone so small, she was definitely strong. "Come on Bella. We need to get you fixed up." And we left the building, everyone still staring at me, but I didn't again see those gorgeous emerald eyes.

Bella's POV

Alice pushed me right out of the room, and when we got out into the cool January air, I stopped her.

"Alice?"

"Yes Bella?" She asked, not affected by the cold too much.

"You might want to know that I am not going to the Infirmary." I stated, hoping she would go along with it.

Of course not.

"Oh yes you are." She stated trying to be stubborn. I knew that wasn't going to work. I had never done something because someone told me to. I did it because I wanted to, and I did NOT want to go to the hospital on my first day to the Academy. Everyone who knew me well knew that.

Without listening to her command I turned, and began walking towards our building.

"Good. Thank you for listening. I'm coming with you though to make sure you get there safely." _Was she serious? _For one, I was not 5 years old anymore, and two, I still wasn't going to the Infirmary.

That's when it clicked with me that the Infirmary was in the building right next to mine. _Well that's going to be convenient. _I thought, wondering how many times I would have to go, even if I was my usual stubborn self.

We finally got to the part where I had to decide to turn either towards the right, where the Infirmary was, or to my building on the left. Alice kept talking about shopping, although I really wasn't listening, and kept walking to the right. I followed her until she got to the door, which she went inside first. She went right up to the receptionist and began talking to her.

That's when I took my chance. Before I even got outside I ran back the other way towards m building. I didn't run my fastest, because I was being extra careful not to slip on the ice, but I could tell Alice was still talking, even once I got to my building. I got up to my room finally, and ran to my suitcase. I took out my usual sewing kit and ran to the bathroom.

After I cleaned and disinfected the wound really well I began stitching it.

Giving myself stitches was NOT an easy job. It hurt more than the doctors, obviously, since I didn't own any numbing creams, but I always had been pretty clumsy, and I learned to do it myself. I still wasn't great, but I was better, and it saved me a lot of embarrassment.

I was in the middle of my work when I suddenly heard a loud, high pitch noise coming from outside the bathroom door.

This caught me off guard, and then I felt yet another sharp pain in my hand around my cut. Then I heard what the noise actually was screaming "Bella! Where are you Bella? Why did you ditch me? You are most definitely going to that infirmary! You said yourself you needed stitches!"

Alice.

I can't believe I had forgotten about her. It had been about fifteen minutes since I left her, and she still hadn't come back. Where had she been?

I looked down and noticed the needle was sticking into my skin right near my cut. That was what the sharp pain was. Alice's screams had caught me so off guard that I had pricked myself. When I took the pin out a small bit of blood was coming out, but compared to the large cut next to it, it was nothing.

Still, I washed that out too, while yelling back to Alice "I'm right here Alice! And I am most definitely not going to that infirmary. And nothing you can say or do will make me!"

Once the cut was clean I kept on stitching. I was about half way done now.

"Maybe _I _can't get you out, but I'm sure _Emmett _can." She threatened. _Emmett was here? How did Emmett get here? _Oh, That must be why Alice had taken so long. She knew I wasn't going to go, so she was going to literally FORCE me to go.

"Bella, you have 10 seconds to get out here before Emmett rams this door down." Although this sounded hilarious when she said it, I could tell she was serious. I began rapidly stitching, trying to be quick, but accurate at the same time. This was hard. "10…" She began counting down. "9…" Stitch, stitch. "8…" Stitch. "7…" Stitch, stitch, stitch. It went on like this until she got to two.

"2…" She spoke loudly. I had just gotten to a little bit past the three quarter mark. This was much slower then doctors, too, but I had to be more careful. That being said, I wouldn't be able to finish in the next two seconds I had. "1…"

When she realized I wasn't coming up, I heard heavy footsteps go to the opposite side of the room. Emmett's, obviously, getting ready for a running start. _That kid is a maniac. _I thought to myself. Then again, the day I was sleep talking with them there, he seemed pretty scared of Alice and Rosalie… maybe they scared him into doing it. I laughed to myself at the thought of someone so big being afraid of someone so small.

"Alright Bella.. Emmett's coming! If I were you I would back away from the door, we don't want you to get even more injured." She yelled into the door.

"Wait!" I yelled, hoping to think of a good excuse. If I told them what I was really doing then I would be the one looking like a maniac…

"Bella, we're not going to wait unless you promise right now to come out here. Are you surrendering?" She asked as if this were war or something.

I needed a good excuse, and fast. I thought back to what Alice had said before… _Alright Bella.. Emmett's coming! If I were you I would back away from the door, we don't want you to get even more injured_…

That's when I thought of one… "No I'm not surrendering! Actually, I was just going to tell you that If you break down the door, you are going to have to pay for it…" I warned them, still rapidly stitching. I had a few more left.

"We have enough money to buy a new door, and Emmett and Jasper will put it in for us." Alice said, pretending as if it were no big deal. Then I remembered the shopping trip that she had basically completely covered by herself… oh yeah… to her, this was no big deal.

I heard her call "Go Emmett!" And then I heard a couple large footsteps running towards the door.

A few more steps and he would be in here. I said the first thing that popped into my head "I'M ON THE TOILET!!!!" _What did I just say? _

Emmett stopped dead in his tracks, and then I heard two people laughing. But it wasn't Emmett and Alice.

Rosalie and Jasper. They were here too. Oh, perfect.

Alice was yelling at Emmett "Well, what are you just standing there for? Knock down the door!" _Wow. Alice WAS a maniac_. I thought to myself. She was a good kind of maniac though. The kind that was only a maniac when she was trying to help people…. Wow that sounded weird.

"She's on the toilet! I'm not going to knock the door down while she's on the toilet! The news will get around campus and I'll look like a creep! No way!" Emmett complained back. They kept fighting like this, Rosalie and Jasper were laughing, but now at the argument, not my randomness. I quickly finished stitching up the wound, cleaned the countertop, and sanitized it, and then put a band aid on top of the stitches. When I was all cleaned up I walked out of the bathroom and they were still fighting.

They were so busy fighting they didn't even notice me walk over to my bag and put back my sewing kit. I stuffed my bag back under my bed, not wanting to see what ever happened to be packed away in there.

Pretending as if nothing had happened, I walked up to the four of them and said "I was the cause of this hold up, so breakfast is on me." And then I walked right out the door.

They quickly realized what was happening and followed after me. "Bella! We are going to the infirmary! You are hurt." I quickly came to a halt, turned around and put my hand up to show her. "Not anymore." Then she started yelling at me. "You gave yourself stitches!?!? Bella that's horrible you could have really hurt yourself! You don't know what you're doing! And in _our _bathroom? Ewww! Now there are probably germs all over!" She complained.

"Don't worry Alice. I do know what I'm doing, I do it a lot. The only reason I messed up a little was because your screaming scared me half to death! And I cleaned and sanitized my entire work area. Calm yourself down."

"Yeah Alice, not every girl is a wimp like you and Rose and need to go to the infirmary for a paper cut" Emmett joked. But Alice wasn't too happy.

We then walked down to the Café, again, although this time Alice had been complaining about how it would've just been easier to go to the nurse, and stuff like that.

But by the time we got there, She had shaken it off.

**Still No Edward! I'm actually mad at myself for this one… Edward was going to make a sneaky appearance in this, but it didn't fit right, so instead he wasn't in this one. But I promise he's coming in soon. Probably next chapter… but no promises. **

**I know! If I get over 10 reviews for this, then I PROMISE to put Edward in. And if I get less than 10 reviews, he might be in, but I won't make any extra efforts… so REVIEW!!!!**

**Love,**

**Christine**


	6. Movie Night

**Alright, so basically, My No More Tears to Shed readers are going to HATE me, because I am updating this story twice in one weekend and that zero, but I am going to be completely honest, this story is really boring me right now, so I needed to update so that I don't lose readers. That being said, I hope you like this!**

**Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga belongs to Miss Stephenie Meyer.**

Previously: "Yeah Alice, not every girl is a wimp like you and Rose and need to go to the infirmary for a paper cut" Emmett joked. But Alice wasn't too happy.

We then walked down to the Café, again, although this time Alice had been complaining about how it would've just been easier to go to the nurse, and stuff like that.

But by the time we got there, She had shaken it off.

Bella's POV 

We all got our dinners, and we sat at the same table Emmett and Jasper had been at earlier. I reintroduced myself and apologized for holding up everyone's dinner. Emmett and Jasper both said that they didn't really mind, but I could definitely tell that they did, because as soon as they had gotten their meals they shoved them down their throats as if they hadn't eaten in weeks.

It was actually a funny sight, so I started giggling to myself, but Alice and Rosalie rolled their eyes at them. Alice and Rosalie both ate their salads slowly, mostly because they were talking so much, and they couldn't talk and eat at the same time. As for me, I had gotten a plate of spaghetti, and eating it rather quickly, because I was really hungry.

"Hey Bella, do you like movies?" Emmett asked me.

"Who doesn't like movies?" I asked, not actually expecting them to reply. But they did. All four of them.

"Jessica." They answered in unison.

I'm sure they saw the confusing look on my face, because that was when Jasper explained "Alice and Emmett have another brother that goes to this school. His name is Edward. He has a girlfriend, and her name is Jessica. She's absolutely horrid. Edward doesn't see it though. Or he does, but he ignores it… we're not really sure. The only reason we put up with her is for Edwards's sake." He said with disgust. He must really hate this girl… By looking at their faces, they all did.

I felt slightly awkward right now. "So did you guys think I was going to be as bad as her, or did you have another reason of asking me if I like movies?"

"Oh right!" Alice exclaimed remembering the purpose to the question. "Well, Every Friday night, the Cullen's and the Hale's have a movie night. Of course, there are always exceptions to that, such as Jessica." She said with disgust, but then became happy again when she finished what she as saying. "And you of course!"

_They wanted me to join in on their family movie night? _"Umm, well thanks and everything, but I really don't think I should go. This is your family's special thing… I'll just stay in our dorm tonight. No big deal." I really didn't want them to feel like they had to invite me.

"Well, actually Bella, you are going, I will physically force you if I have to… and this time I won't let you into a bathroom first!" Emmett joked, but I could tell they really wanted me to go. It was really sweet.

"Besides, we switch off rooms, and tonight it's in our room! So you have to stay!" Alice said excitedly.

"Are you sure? I really don't want to interrupt your movie night. I…" I began saying something else but Rosalie cut me off.

"Yes we're sure, conversation over. Now go back to your dorm with Alice and we will be over at 10:00." Rosalie said playfully.

So we did. Alice, Rosalie and I walked towards our building, and Emmett and Jasper walked towards their dorm. When we got to the elevator, Alice and I got off on our floor, while Rosalie waited to get to hers.

We got back to the dorm, and Alice was quick to hop in the shower, so that I could have time for mine. While she was in there, I made sure my room was nice and clean, since I don't want them to think I was a slob.

When I heard the shower turn off I grabbed my pajamas – long pink striped pants, with a matching long sleeve pajama shirt **(A.N: Pajamas in Profile!) **– and waited for Alice to come out. When she did it was 9:30, and I didn't have too much time. When I first got in the bathroom I rushed, but once I stepped into the soothing hot water of the shower, I couldn't rush it if I tried. After shaving, washing my hair – using my favorite strawberry shampoo – and washed myself, I remembered our guests… so I rushed. I literally hopped out of the shower, but there was a small puddle of water on the floor, and I slipped and fell right on my butt, after hitting my back on the countertop…hard.

And of course, not only did this hurt a lot, I heard a bunch of people laughing right outside the bathroom. They had heard me… just great.

I quickly got dressed, being more careful this time, and hastily brushed my hair, then threw it up into a ponytail. I cleaned up the bathroom, and then opened the door.

I looked around the room and the first thing that I noticed was that I really didn't need to clean my room up… Alice had just scattered TONS of pillows and blankets _all over _the room. I guessed that everyone else must have brought some, because Alice and I didn't even own this many.

Next I saw Alice and Jasper on Alice's bed, and Rosalie sitting in the pile of pillows and blankets on the floor. I saw a guy that I didn't know who had a bronze ish color hair facing the other way, next to Emmett, picking out the movie. I guessed that this was Edward, Alice's and Emmett's brother, and finally, I saw a girl I didn't know, sprawled across _my _bed wearing the skimpiest of shorts and one of the lowest cut shirts I had ever seen for pajamas…. If you could even consider this pajamas. And to think she was on _my _bed. I had to guess that this was Jessica.

Ew.

I hated to be rude, since I didn't even know her, but for a first impression, hers was absolutely _horrible._

When Alice saw me, she realized what I was so disgusted about. "Jessica, either put some clothes on or get off of Bella's bed." She said coldly. I would have stuck up for her, but I couldn't object to this one.

"Eddie-poo, Alice is being mean to me." She complained like a 3 year old. And where did she come up with _Eddie-poo????_

I officially understood what my friends meant at dinner when they said she was "horrid". And I couldn't disagree.

Edward, however, did not yell at his sister, instead he said "Jessica, it would be nice of you to give Bella her bed. This is her room now." He said without even turning to look at her. He was still searching for a movie.

"So what?" She answered back coldly. _Umm excuse me?!?!?! Did she just say so what? _

When no one said anything, she was the one to speak. "Look…Bella?" She questioned.

"Yeah." I answered back just as coldly.

"Well, Bella, you see, before you came along, every movie night, Edward and I would stay on _this _bed. Just because you come, and it suddenly belongs to you, that doesn't mean I'm willing to give it up. I hope you understand…. You _do _understand, don't you?"

I was about to murder this girl when Alice and Rosalie both sent me warning glances. I wasn't sure why, but they were serious… so I controlled myself. Instead, I just walked up to her and when my face was only inches away from hers I said "Stay here if you want, but don't expect me to leave."

And I sat down, on my bed, with a girl dressed like a skank sitting right next to me.

**EDWARD I HERE!!!!! I realize that I definitely didn't get 10 reviews for last chapter, but I needed a little Edward in it. Now I have to decide what to do with him next chapter… after all, he hasn't even looked at her yet, so they don't know what they look like.**

**REVIEW and tell me what to do! I have an idea… but Im not too sure about it.**

**Love,**

**Christine**


	7. Emerald Eyes

**Alright, so I'm super duper (haha wow) happy that you guys liked the last chapter. I realize the story was pretty boring before that, so I'm glad to see you guys are liking it :)**

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns TWILIGHT!**

Previously: I was about to murder this girl when Alice and Rosalie both sent me warning glances. I wasn't sure why, but they were serious… so I controlled myself. Instead, I just walked up to her and when my face was only inches away from hers I said "Stay here if you want, but don't expect me to leave."

And I sat down, on my bed, with a girl dressed like a skank sitting right next to me.

Bella's POV

I looked over at Alice and Jasper, and noticed they were both looking at me like I was crazy. Rosalie held the same expression, and Emmett turned around, just to give me the exact same look. Jessica looked at me as if I just slapped her, and then the only person I hadn't really met yet turned around to also look at me like I was crazy.

As soon as he turned, I gasped and almost fell off the bed.

The eyes.

The bright emerald eyes from the cafeteria. That was Alice's Brother, and the skank's boyfriend.

Awesome….

He too, gasped, probably because I almost just fell off my bed, but I couldn't be sure.

I quickly turned away, but everyone else was still staring at me. I had to break the stares, so I just asked "Sooo, what movie are we watching?" Everyone was still staring for the next few seconds, but then turned away.

"I say we watch…" Emmett was cut off by Rosalie yelling.

"Emmett, we are not watching 'John Tucker Must Die' again!" She yelled at him.

He blushed, and then looked at me, because I was obviously the only one that didn't know he loved that movie. I just laughed at him.

"Fine, then what are we watching?" He asked Edward.

"Well, it's Alice's and Bella's room, so why don't they pick?" He suggested.

"I don't really care what we watch, so Alice it's up to you." I told her.

"Yayy!!!! Okay, we are going to watch Grease" She said. I liked this movie, so this was fine with me.

"Uhhh, Alice, we watch that movie every single time we're here." Edward complained.

This time Jessica's annoying voice piped in "Oh, don't worry Edward it's not like we will be watching the movie anyway." She smiled at him and wiggled her eyebrows.

I gagged… loud… too loud.

"You got a problem _Bella._" She spat my named out like a piece of trash.

"Oh… not really, it's just that on my bed, the _only _thing you will be doing, is watching the movie. If you are planning anything else, then you can go sit on the floor, or better yet, go to your room, it will be a lot more private" I said, honestly hoping she would take the second option.

"Oh, Bella, you're so funny. But don't worry, Edward and I don't mind public shows of affection."

"Yeah, well guess what, _everyone one else does."_ I said back coldly. By now we were of the bed, standing up, looking each other right in the eyes. She was the slightest bit taller than me, although it didn't make me the slightest bit more afraid of her.

She had nothing more to say. No one did. In fact, everyone was giving me that same look as before, except for Edward who had a smirk on his face. I was going to guess that no one ever stands up to her, because everyone seemed to be enjoying the fact that she was speechless.

Instead, she sat back down on the bed and crossed her arms.

I sat back down, and saw Rosalie giving me a smile, as did Alice. Jasper was chuckling quietly, and Emmett was chuckling… well… not so quietly.

Seeing Emmett laughing caused Edward to start laughing, which caused Jasper to laugh harder, which caused Rose, Alice, and I to start laughing to. Soon the entire room, with the exception of Jessica, was laughing… the look on her face just caused us to laugh louder.

Finally, she couldn't take it; she stormed out of the room, ordering Edward to follow. He did… that is, until he got to the door… he closed it, and then locked her out. **(A.N: I know Edward would never really do that to his girlfriend, but like I said, characters are way OOC, and I absolutely HAD to. Lol)**

Wow. Edward was quite some boyfriend locking her out like that. Don't get me wrong, I found it hilarious, but to his own girlfriend?? Slightly rude if you ask me.

In my eyes, Edward Cullen didn't look so great after awhile. He didn't stick up for his girlfriend, and then won't even watch whatever movie is playing as long as that same girlfriend is there, and then he will lock her out. That's three strikes you're out.

But, I had to give him another chance, so I stayed where I was on my bed. When the movie was about to start, he walked up to me and said "Would you mind if I joined you?" He asked, gesturing to the bed."

"Go ahead" I told him politely. "I'm guessing that you already know this, but I'm Bella." I put my hand out towards him.

"Edward." He said, and reached his hand out to shake mine. The moment our hands had contact was incredible. One small touch like that, and it sent a jolt of electricity through me. He obviously felt it to, because we both pulled our hand back quickly, and then I blushed.

The movie started and finished quickly, and it wasn't until the credits came up on the screen that I remembered Jessica. "So, does anyone know why Jessica hasn't come looking for Edward yet?" I asked. When they all remembered what happened, they all had confused expressions. All except for Edwards. His was something else, but I couldn't tell what. No one else seemed to notice this though.

I pretty much ignored that, and everyone besides Rosalie and Alice left.

That's when they turned to me "Bella, you were great!" They both hugged me.

"I just hate it when people push me around, and the thought of having your brother…" I said gesturing towards Alice, "and Jessica doing, god knows what, on my bed, especially while I am _also _on it, just wasn't going to work."

"But you have to be careful though, Bella." Rosalie warned me. "Jessica has this one friend, Lauren, and let's just say, she doesn't like _any _girl that messes with her, her friends 'cough cough Jessica', or which ever guy she happens to like, or be dating. So don't go overboard with this, ok?" She explained.

"I'm not anymore afraid of any girls that think they can mess with me… expecially now that I have you two by my side." I smiled at them.

"You always do, but still be careful" Rosalie pleaded.

"I'll think about it." I said, even though I had no intention in doing so.

**REVIEW LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!!!**

**Please … :D**

**Love,**

**Christine**


	8. An Unexpected Call

**You guys are ridiculously INCREDIBLE!!!!I got soooooo many reviews last chapter… or it seemed like it anyway. Lol. Thank you sooooooooooooo much for all of my reviewers!!!!**

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and its characters. **

Previously: "I'm not anymore afraid of any girls that think they can mess with me… especially now that I have you two by my side." I smiled at them.

"You always do, but still be careful" Rosalie pleaded.

"I'll think about it." I said, even though I had no intention in doing so.

Bella's POV

I was sitting on my bed talking to Alice and Rosalie about random things, when my phone started ringing. Without checking the Caller ID I flipped it open.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hey Bells, it's me… Jake."

Jake.

Ohmygod Jake. I forgot about him completely, and now he was calling me… this wasn't going to be pretty on my part.

Alice and Rosalie noticed the concern on my face and looked at me confused. I told them to wait a minute and ran outside.

Once I got outside I was in tears. While I was running I remembered all of the pain he put me through. They were silent tears, luckily, so Jake couldn't hear me? _Why was he even calling me? What's the point considering I will just be screaming at him the whole time? _

That's when I remembered what had happened just a few days before. When I saw Jake and Tanya on the couch, I had just left. I didn't bother to acknowledge him, knowing he would just make some stupid excuse. I just decided to pretend we were still together… I didn't know why I did this, but it felt good, since he didn't know that I'm not as oblivious as he thought.

I was just going to leave it this way for now, so I brushed aside my tears, and tried to sound civilized.

"Hey Jake." I began.

"Hey Bells, how are you? You didn't call me, so I got worried." _Yeah… right. I'm sure you must have been falling apart since I haven't called you in two days. I'm surprised you even remember me…_

I thought to myself. But I had to cover that up.

"Yeah, well, I have been getting situated at school, and everything, so I haven't really had time." I said quickly.

"Oh, that's good I guess. How is it there? Any hot guys I should know about?" He asked, jokingly… but I decided to make this interesting.

"Actually… yeah. There are a few." I said innocently.

He was quiet for a moment before saying "You're kidding right?"

"Ummm, well let's think. There is Zach, Brad, Kevin…" I started making up random names. "Andrew, Joey, Edward…" I paused. _How on earth did that slip out??? _

I tried to convince myself that it was a total coinceidnce, but I felt a little strange about it still.

I heard jakes aggravated Husky voice. "Oh, is that it? No Cam? Or James?" He asked sarcastically.

I tried to pretend that I didn't notice his frustration. This was crazy fun :) "Nope, that's about it."

As much fun as this was, I couldn't help but feel hatred towards him. My eyes had tears in them, but I was holding them back as if he would see them. I was surprised at how strong my voice was. Maybe it was because I knew that this was just the beginning of getting my revenge.

We were both quiet, so I began to say goodbye. "So Jake, um, well I guess you can call me later…?" I was hesitant to ask.

"Yeah. I'll call you. See you soon Bells. I miss you." He sounded sincere. He sounded like he really missed me. Maybe he did… but not enough to tell me the truth. Instead, he just cheated on me… and won't tell me about it. "Oh, and stay away from all of those guys okay? They don't seem like the type of people I want you hanging around with."

_Right. So He could hang out with all of the girls he wants, but when it comes to guys it's a whole different story. I get it. _I wanted to scream at him right then, but tears were still running down my face, so I knew my voice would crack, and that would blow my cover.

Instead I said "I'll take care of myself. You do the same please. Bye Jake." I really did want him taking care of himself. No matter what he did to me, we were really close, and if anything happened to him I would still be devastated.

When we hung up the phone I didn't think of my surroundings. I didn't know where I was. I just walked.

And walked….

And walked…

And while I was walking I cried.

And cried…

And cried…

People around me were staring, but I didn't notice. All I could think about was Jake.

I walked into the woods near campus, although I didn't know where I was going.

I didn't know where I was, or how far I had gone, but suddenly, there was an opening in the trees. Through the opening was the most beautiful meadow I had ever seen in my life. It was absolutely gorgeous. Well, no… not quite gorgeous… at least not in this January weather. But it was beautiful none the less, and I was positive it would be even better when spring and summer came along.

The meadow was small and circular, and had a thin, dusty layer of snow coating the ground. Somewhere nearby, there was a small stream… and despite the freezing cold temperatures, it was running.

There were remains of summer plants and flowers on the ground, but the ground was pretty bare besides that. And yet, this meadow was still incredible.

As beautiful as this meadow was, it still didn't take my mind off Jake for more than 3 minutes, and before I knew it, I was lying on the snow covered ground, and I was fast asleep.

When I woke up I didn't know what time it was, or how long I had been sleeping. The only thing that I could think about was how cold I was. I looked up only to get a few snowflakes in my eye, which means it was snowing. I realized I was screaming, because I was just having more nightmares about Jake.

Tears were streaming down my face, and some old ones were literally frozen to my face…

The new tears covered some of these frozen tears, but not all of them, and let me just say, this was painful.

My hands were also freezing. Practically purple. And my lips were twitching, while my teeth were clicking. I was surprised I could even stand up, but I could.

Half of my face had been resting in the snow, and I was almost afraid to touch that ear, as if it would fall off.

I wanted to run, but I couldn't, so I slowly walked back to campus. It was tough to find my way back, but I pretty much just went straight and found my way.

It was a slow painful journey, and it seemed to take much, much longer now that I was freezing and not preoccupied with thoughts of Jake, but I still made it, and I began to walk back to my dorm.

I only got to the gym, which was the fourth building I had passed, when Emmett and Jasper came out of the building. "Bella! Oh my God! Where were you? We have all been looking for you! Poor Alice was almost sick over your absence!" Emmett began yelling. Not in anger… more in happiness that I was back… but either way, he was loud when it came to yelling.

I wanted to answer, but my lips wouldn't move, all I could get was a small shiver. "Dude! Look at her! We need to get her back to her dorm, quickly." Jasper said.

That was all Emmett needed to hear. In less than a second he had scooped me up in his arms, and was walking towards my dorm. I couldn't protest, considering, one, my lips still wouldn't move, and two, his body warmth felt good compared to the freezing air.

I saw Jasper on the phone, telling the girls to be at the dorm immediately.

Before I knew it, we were there. Emmett walked in the room, and both girls gasped. "What happened to her!" "Ohmygod! Bella!" They screeched… not so much in happiness. I still couldn't talk, although the heat of the dorm was helping a bit.

I closed my eyes for what I thought was a second, but then I woke up, with six faces staring at me.

**Alright, so another chapter is up! But I have three things to tell you guys.**

**One, Like I said in the other authors note, you guys are INSANE!!! Both stories got SO MANY REVIEWS I wanted to kiss my computer screen. (Don't worry, I didn't :) ) So thanks to every single one of my reviewers! You made me soooo happy!**

**Two, sorry for taking a little bit longer than usual to update, my weekend was packed….**

**Three, for those two reasons, this chapter is a bit longer than most others… I felt bad since you reviewed so much, and then I gave you a late update. So I hoped you liked it!**

**REVIEW PLEASE!!!! **

**Love,**

**Christine**


	9. Another Family Member

**Hey guys! Sorry I couldn't update last weekend (I know I'm horrid). I had a lot going on though… anyway, I got No More Tears to shed updated last Sunday, but by the time I ended I needed to go to bed because of my school in the morning. So… here's this!**

**By the Way, Thanks to all of my Reviewers! I love you guys!**

**Disclaimer: Twilight is not mine… it is Stephenie Meyers. You have no right to sue… so leave me alone… just kidding :)**

Previously: I closed my eyes for what I thought was a second, but then I woke up, with six faces staring at me.

Bella's POV

I couldn't see much when I first woke up… everything was kind of fuzzy, and I had a major headache. Soon, though, I could decipher each face.

Alice was between Rosalie and Jasper, all of who were staring at me with concern. Emmett was standing next to Rosalie, staring at a blond man, who was just inches away from me. I have never seen him before, and yet, he looked like each of the Cullen's. I wasn't sure how this made any sense… but he actually looked a lot like the Hale's too. He was very pale, and incredibly handsome. He was older than me, but it couldn't have been by a lot.

Edward was also there, but he had a look of aggravation on his face_._ He looked like he was really annoyed. This, of course, was annoying me. _If you don't want to be here, go hang out with your girlfriend… no one's forcing you to stay… _

I couldn't believe I was feeling so much hatred towards Jessica. I understood that she had a bad personality, and she didn't know how to dress herself… but I never imagined me to be so hateful towards anyone. And for some reason I felt like Edward had to do it.

But this feeling couldn't be jealousy… after all; I still loved Jake… didn't I?

These thoughts were running through my head, when suddenly… there was a lot of talking at once. "Bella, can you hear me?" "Oh my god!" "Is she deaf?" "How is that possible?" "Maybe she's not even awake yet…"

They made it sound like I wasn't listening before… I guess my hearing was a bit fuzzy for a while there, too… "Guys, calm down I can hear you… What happened after I went to sleep?" I was still confused.

"Before answering your question Bella, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Carlisle Cullen… and before you even say it, please call me Carlisle. Mr. Cullen makes my feel so old." He said with a smile and stuck his hand out. I shook his hand, and realized how warm it was. Too warm… and then I realized his hand wasn't warm, mine was just freezing cold.

Carlisle noticed it too.

"Oh my…" He whispered to himself, but he got on with the answer to my question. "Apparently, you passed out in Emmett's arms. The kids noticed how cold you were… and you weren't warming up quickly enough, so they called me. I am a doctor, and my wife Esme and I have a house not too far from here, so the kids always call me up when one of them are sick.

"I came over as quick as I could… after all, if your body temperature isn't high enough, you could easily die." All 5 of the kids cringed at that. "Alice and Rosalie got you changed into clean, dry clothes, and then I got you a warm cloth for your forehead. Your temperature got better soon enough, but I can tell your not going to come out of this completely unscratched."

I understood, so I shook my head yes. But Alice suddenly began yelling at me. "Would you mind telling all of us what you were doing out there… _sleeping in the woods in the middle of January?!!?!?_" Oh, no. I didn't want to get back on this subject. I had never been a good liar, and I most definitely wasn't planning on telling them all about Jake, although I was sure they probably noticed the frozen teardrops on my face. Do you think they would buy that my eyes were just watering?

Maybe Emmett, but I knew Alice and Rosalie would catch that in a millisecond.

"Um… well… I went for a walk… and I guess I was just… um, tired, you know… from unpacking… and going to the Infirmary and what not. _Wow. Might as well write "I'm lying" In permanent marker on my forehead. _

"Yeah, right. Because it's perfectly normal for a person to suddenly get tired while on a walk in the woods behind their campus and then fall asleep on the ground, right?" Rosalie asked me with heavy sarcasm.

"It could happen…" I knew they caught me. Luckily, Carlisle realized how uncomfortable I was, so he interrupted Alice who was about to keep harassing me.

"Well, whatever may have happened, you have to be more careful from now on. If you had only been out there for a little bit longer, you could have had much more severe injuries. So, take this medication twice a day for the next three weeks, and until then I want you with someone at all times. Got it?" He handed me the medication as I slowly nodded.

Then he turned to everyone else. "Alice, being her roommate, you are in charge of not letting her forget to take the medicine, and each one of you are In charge of being sure she is with one of you at all times."

They all shook their heads yes, except for Emmett who just joked with me about having "baby-sitting duties"

With that, Carlisle left, but not after making me promise to go visit their house with the family.

Before I gave any of them a chance to talk about what happened I blurted out "I'm starving. I haven't eaten anything for awhile… as you can imagine. I'm going to go get something to eat. Anyone want to come?"

A heard a chorus of "Yeah"s and "Count me in"s, and I thought I had heard everyone, but instead I heard Edward say "Um, I will come, but I actually have to go get one of my friends. He wants me to introduce him to you, Bella." He said with a crooked grin on his face. _I hate him for making me feel like putty over something stupid like a smile._ I thought as I practically melted in his eyes.

I heard a few smirks, so I quickly composed myself, but I realized they weren't smirking at me, they were smirking at what Edward had said. They obviously knew whoever he was talking about. "Umm, okay… well in that case I guess you can meet us there… Wait a minute, where are we going to go anyway?" I asked.

"Well, you slept in until lunch… so why don't we go to Taki's, it's a pizza place near the common area. It has the best pizza ever.." Emmett explained to me.

"Sounds great." I was definitely in the mood for pizza right now.

"Alright then. Meet you there." Edward said with another smirk towards me, before leaving.

I had a bed feeling that I didn't want to meet whoever Edwards friend was.

**Review, Review, Review!!!! **

**I have had a ton of stuff going on lately, between projects and homework and stuff, so I haven't been able to update lately… but good news is I just presented my math project to the class, and I got a 100%! Yay!!! But I still have Spanish to do. I have GREAT news though!!!!! **

**THANKSGIVING IS COMING UP SOON!!!! Which means hopefully more updates!!! Yay! Lol. **

**But….**

**I **_**am **_**working really hard right now to update for you guys, so please, please, please REVIEW!!!! **

**Love,**

**Christine**


	10. Edwards Friend

**Chapter 10!!!! WooHoo!!! Most of you guys guessed that Edwards's friend was going to be Mike… well sorry, but you're wrong. I'm sorry, but I really, really don't like him, and I felt like not bringing him into my story… so read on to find out who it is!**

**Disclaimer: Miss Stephenie Meyer owns Mr. Edward Cullen. Dang it. **

Previously: "Sounds great." I was definitely in the mood for pizza right now.

"Alright then. Meet you there." Edward said with another smirk towards me, before leaving.

I had a bed feeling that I didn't want to meet whoever Edwards friend was.

Bella's POV 

We all ordered the pizza, and then sat down at one of the tables. That's when I had my chance. "Ok, so who wants to tell me who Edwards's friend is?"

"Nope." Rosalie answered with a smile.

"Well can you at least tell me why you were all smirking when Edward said he wanted to meet me?" I was desperate for some answers.

"Well, let's just say that he saw you in the cafeteria the day that you fell, and he finds you… attractive." Alice said with a laugh.

Oh great. Absolutely fantastic. Another Mike Newton…

Mike Newton was a weird kid that liked me back at Forks. He asked me out at least 3 times a week, and would never give it a rest. Even when I went out with Jake he was consistent. One time Jake actually punched him in the nose since we were going out… and what do you know? I come here, and another guy likes me. By the looks on my friend's faces, he wasn't going to be any different from Mike.

I saw Edward walk in, and I grimaced. "Hey Edward. Where's Nick?" Alice asked Edward.

"He's coming. He wanted to make a nice entrance though." Edward said smirking yet again.

The door opened once again, and in walked a kid about Edwards's height with light brown hair and a good fashion sense. He was wearing jeans and a Hollister shirt with a black leather jacket and dark sunglasses.

He was bobbing his head as he walked, trying to look cool, but purposely being over dramatic. Let me just say…

He was no Mike Newton.

He was actually really cute and his walk showed his humor. He got to us and sat down right next to me

He pulled off his sunglasses dramatically, revealing piercing blue eyes that just tripled how charming he was. "Hey there pretty lady." He said with a smile.

"Hey yourself. I'm Bella."

"Nick. Mind if I sit here?" He asked, even though he was already sitting down.

"Nope not at all." I smiled back at him.

We both turned back at the table and noticed everyone staring at us with their jaws hanging open. Okay, so actually, they were staring at me. Apparently, they knew that Nick was going to act that way, but they weren't expecting my flirty reaction. I didn't like them staring at me, so I grabbed a piece of pizza and said "You know, you guys might have a hard time chewing with your jaws hanging open like that." I smiled and took a bite at my pizza.

That knocked everyone out of their trances, and they all got to eating. Edward on the other hand was still looking at me weird. His jaw was closed now, and he was eating too, but he looked really confused.

I ignored that and we kept eating and talking about random things. I even flirted with Nick some more, but not without getting strange looks from my friends now and then. I couldn't concentrate much, because Nick kept smiling at me, and I couldn't stop myself from thinking about him, but I did find out that Nick was Edwards's roommate and best friend since 3rd grade, he plays football with Emmett, and they were also talking about Jasper playing basketball. I didn't hear what sport Edward played… or if he played a sport at all.

When we all finished we decided to go up to Edward and Nick's room.

Their room was set up just like mine and Alice's. They had navy bedding, with a single gray, white, and brown stripe on it **(A/N: Bedding in profile)**. From their window there was a nice view of the fountain. Their walls were white, but they were covered in football and lacrosse pictures and posters.

From those I guessed that Edward played lacrosse. We sat down on bean bags and pillows when Jasper suggested we play a game. Alice really wanted to play spin the bottle, but I was definitely _not _up for spin the bottle, so instead we played truth or dare.

"Okay, Emmett, truth or dare?" Jasper asked.

"Dare." He answered with confidence.

"Okay, I dare you to go skinny dipping in the fountain outside." Jasper smiled wickedly.

"Oh, come on man! That's kind of harsh, don't cha think??? I'm sure Bella doesn't want to see me going skinny dipping anyway. Isn't that right Bella." He was trying to weasel his way out of this, and I wasn't about to let him.

"Emmett, its dark out. No one is outside, and no one will be able to see you. Now go, you big baby." I answered and Alice let out a giggle.

"Fine, but I'll get you for this Swan." He said before running out the door.

They all waited at the window, obviously wanting to see Emmett embarrassed, but I really didn't want to see that. Jasper, being cruel to his best friend, actually videotaped the entire thing using Edward's camera, but hid it when Emmett got back. I didn't want to know what he was planning to do with that.

Emmett got back, and of course, was planning on giving me some horrible dare that would embarrass me like crazy, so when he asked me truth or dare, I was smart and chose truth.

"Crap. Umm, okay….What was the real reason that you fell asleep in the woods, and not only almost froze to death, but woke up with frozen tears streaming down your face?" I froze where I was. Everyone froze.

No one said anything, but as the memories clouded my brain, I remembered Jake. Thinking of him made me incredibly upset, but I remembered Nick was here, and I already really liked him. I didn't want him to think that I was still in love with my ex… after all, I'm not. I'm just upset about the _way _we broke up.

How was I supposed to answer this question?

"Umm… I really… don't… know if… I can answer that… yet." I didn't know what to say. I know this was truth or dare, and they _did _just make Emmett do his dare, but I wasn't ready to tell them about Jake, or my fight with my parents, who I still haven't talked to.

"Look, Bella, we usually only do this for really, really hard dares, _but _that question seems to be really hard for you to answer right now, so if you would like, we will give you a dare, and you have to do it, without complaining, no matter what. If you want to agree to that, then you don't have to answer the question." Emmett explained.

Thank God. I didn't have to answer the question… yay! "I'll do it." I said with confidence. I usually did dare anyway in truth or dare, but I was too afraid of Emmett's revenge dare.

Alice and Rosalie whispered back and forth, obviously the ones who will choose my dare.

"Okay Bella! We have it!" Here goes nothing.

"We dare you to kiss Edward!"

**Oh my! What's going to happen???? Review and tell me what you think!**

**As for Nick, I know you are all probably mad at me, because you were expecting (and hoping) for Edward and Bella to get together… but I will admit, I LOVE NICK! I have officially fallen in love with one of my own characters. I'm proud of myself.**

**Last chapter, when I wrote about Edward's special friend, I wasn't planning on Bella liking him back, but I started writing this, and a brilliant Idea popped into my head for the story! So… sorry if you don't like him, but now I'm attached. So please tell me what you think about him. **

**By the way NICK'S PICTURE IS IN MY PROFILE!**

**Thank you to Glenn McCuen, for being my Nick! **

**REVIEW PLEASE!!!! In my own opinion, the story is getting more interesting. But maybe you have a different opinion? I REALLY want to know what you guys think, so just a few words and you could make my day! **

**Love,**

**Christine 3**


	11. Daring Moves

**I'm really, really, really, really sorry for taking so long to update. But, thank you soooooo much to everyone that reviewed last chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Okay, I'm tired of this. I DON'T OWN TWILIGHT!**

Previously: "We dare you to kiss Edward!"

Bella's POV

_Excuse Me? _Did they just say "kiss Edward"???

My jaw hit the floor, along with Edward's and Nick's. Emmett and Jasper were smug, waiting for someone to do something, while Alice and Rose had vicious smiles on their face.

_How could they do this to me? _They are putting me in a _really _awkward position. One, because Edward has a girlfriend, and two, because I like Nick as more than a friend, and they _knew _that.

I was angry. More than angry actually. I was furious. _How could they do this to me? Why _would they do this to me?

Everyone sat their staring at me, waiting for me to do something. By now Edward actually seemed curious of what I was going to do, while Nick looked about as angry as I was. Unfortunately, I had no choice but to do the dare, so…

I stomped right up to Edward, still angry, and kissed him, right on the lips.

I had only kissed him for a second, and yet, that was a kiss that I would never forget. I mean, talk about sparks. He didn't even have time to react, but the second that my lips met his warm, soft lips, it was like magic. There might as well have been fireworks in the background. It was perfect. Unlike any kiss with Jake, or any other boyfriend – not that I have had many.

For a moment I almost forgot why I was so angry, but when I realized who I was kissing and why I was kissing them, I remembered again, so I pulled away, stood up, and announced "I'm leaving."

Then I took Nick's hand and pulled him out the door with me.

We walked back to my dorm without saying anything, but right when we got through the door, I had to say something, although I didn't want to bring up our little game of truth or dare, so instead I simply asked, "So, I'm guessing you don't have a girlfriend?" I asked, trying to hide the hope in my voice.

He half smiled "Nope. Not yet anyway." We were both quiet for a moment, before he asked "So what crazy things did Edward say about me before we actually met?" Apparently he thought Edward hadn't been completely truthful with whatever he said, although he hadn't said a lot.

"Actually, he didn't say too much. I think that he thought I was going to find you annoying." Then we both smiled. "But he kind of gave me the impression that you liked me…" I gave him a playful questioning look...

"Ah, Edward. What am I going to do with him? You'd think after all these years he would give me a break." He laughed. "Well, unfortunately, for me, he gave me the impression that you _wouldn't _like me."

"Well, Edward barely knows me. He was probably just goofing off because your friends." I answered hoping he got the picture. He did.

"Does that mean that you _do _like me?" He gave me the crooked grin that was only perfected by Edward, and yet looked adorable on him too.

"It's weird. I've only known you for a couple hours now, and yet, I think I might." It _was _weird. Considering a little while ago I had been crying in the woods over Jake, and now, I was claiming to possibly like Nick. But with Nick, it was different.

I mean, sure, we had a connection, but it didn't feel right. I almost had more feelings for Edward than I did for Nick, but I knew that didn't make sense, so I put that out of my head. But even my feelings towards Jake were different than this. And yet, I felt good with Nick.

After that we just talked for awhile, and not much happened, other than him admitting that he was starting to like me too.

It must have been about an hour and a half of us sitting there, talking and laughing like we were back in 8th grade. That's how it felt too. Being around Nick was really comforting, even though I had only known him for a bit.

We were laughing about some joke that Nick had told when a small knock came from the door. "Um, Bella, can I come in?" A quiet, pixie-like voice came from the door.

"Come on in Alice!" I called back, still quietly laughing about the joke.

She stuck her head in, almost worried, and then stepped in, followed by Rosalie. They were both unusually quiet, and wouldn't meet my gaze as they walked towards Alice's bed. That's when I remembered that I was mad at them. I was so caught up in hanging out with Nick that I forgot all about the dare.

Nick noticed the tension in the room, and decided this was his cue to leave. "Well, I'm going to head out. Bye Bella." And he gave me a hug. "Alice. Rosalie." He acknowledged them before leaving.

"Bye Nick." They said in unison.

Nick left, and then they slowly turned towards me, staring at the ground. Nobody said anything at first, and I didn't feel like standing there, waiting for an apology, even though I knew that was why they were both here, so I plopped down on the bed, and grabbed a dance magazine. I saw them both eying it, curiously, but then were taken back to the present, and Alice sat down on the other side of the bed, while Rosalie remained standing.

"Bella, we're sorry. Really sorry." She began. "We didn't know that you would be so upset. Really. If we had known you would be so upset, we wouldn't have done it." She stated.

"I just want to know _why _you did it. Just for fun? I bet it would have been fantastic to see your roommate kiss your brother, who has a girlfriend. Wouldn't it?" I said, my voice dripping in sarcasm.

"I don't know if you will want to know why we really did it. You will probably be angry with us. We're even angry at ourselves." Rosalie said.

"Okay, well right now, I'm probably imagining that it is something far worse than it is, so you might as well tell me, because I'm not to happy now." I hoped they got the picture.

"Well, if you insist…" Rosalie said, leaving her statement there for Alice to finish.

"We just think you and Edward would be awesome together."

**What do you think? They just kissed, and Nick and Bella said they're beginning to like each other. **

**Ummm, I also realize that Bella and Nick haven't known eachother for more than 5 hours (haha) but, remember that Nick saw Bella before the pizza parlor, and Bella, of course, fell for his sense of humor, and his charm. But that's why they don't have much of a relationship yet.**

**Now, do you want them to have a major relationship? Or minor? Or, none at all? And how will Bella react to Alice and Rosalie's reasoning? **

**Review PLEASE!**

**Love,**

**Christine33**


	12. Edward's thoughts

**HAPPY NEW YEARS! …Even though it is only New Years Eve. Either way… you're present? A SUPER LONG CHAPTER IN EDWARDS POV!!!! lol. Enjoy! **

**Time for Chapter 12! Thank you so much to my reviewers! I got a lot of great ideas from you guys! Hope you like this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight… but neither do you! Stephenie does!!!! Woo Hoo Stephenie Meyer!**

Previously: "We just think you and Edward would be awesome together."

Edward's POV 

While everybody went down to the pizza parlor I told them that I would wait up for them, but I had to get someone. Well, that someone was my best friend Nick. Ever since he saw her in the cafeteria when she fell, he had a crazy crush on her.

Well, not quite like that. A crush sounds like a third grader, and even though he sometimes acted like one, Nick was a junior like me. He and I shared a dorm too.

I ran back to my dorm and told Nick that if he wanted to meet Bella, now was the time.

"No way! Where is she? Is she here? Dude I'm in my boxers!" He started yelling at me.

"No he's not here you idiot! She's at the pizza palace with everyone else. I'm going with them, but I figured you would want to come since you talk about her 24/7." I smirked at him. He looked relieved at first, and then scared.

"You didn't tell her that, right?"

"No I didn't tell her that! Now get ready! She's waiting!"

"Oh, right, right." And then he started running around the dorm looking for things.

Then he yelled at me. "Dude pick some of this up! What if she wants to come back here? We can't have our room being a mess."

"Are you kidding me? You haven't even met yet, and no offence, but I don't think she would want to come back here if she had known you for three years."

He kept looking for some shirt when he asked "What do you mean?"

"You know, I don't really think your Bella's type. No offence, I just mean that Bella is not like other girls. She's different. And she doesn't take to guys like most girls. She can be really shy, but she can also get vicious. You should have seen her and Jessica going at it the other day." I started laughing, and he did too.

He found the shirt he wanted, but now he was looking for something else. He stopped laughing and looked at me weird. "How do you know what Bella's type is anyway? You've only known her for a few days and I don't think she's even been around that many guys. Only you, Jasper, and Emmett. And even if she did find any of you _remotely _attractive…" he joked. "You all have girlfriends so it's not like she would show it anyway."

He picked up a leather Jacket from the bottom of our closet, dusted it off then threw it on.

"Look, your right. I just can't really see you two together, that's all."

"Whatever you say." He grabbed his sunglasses off of his dresser and we left.

"Why on earth do you have sunglasses? It's January and we are going to be in a pizza parlor." _I tell you sometimes that kid is crazy. _

"I want to make a good first impression!" He said innocently.

"By wearing sunglasses in January?"

"No, but dramatically revealing my stunning eyes from under these baby's" He said referring to his sunglasses. We both laughed at his stupid remarks.

…

I was sitting in the pizza parlor and I couldn't believe my eyes. Bella actually fell for him! They were talking and flirting the entire time! Everyone was surprised, but I couldn't believe it! Why did she like him? I mean, yeah, he was my best friend, and he was a great guy, but I never pictured Bella liking him.

When we all finished eating we decided to go up to mine and Nick's room. Who would've thought?

I actually owed Nick a Thank you because I wouldn't want Bella to see what a pig we were since we just met. Then again, it was mostly Nick's stuff on the floor, but it was still my dorm.

Somehow, we ended up playing truth or dare. At least it was better than Alice's choice of spin the bottle.

First, Jasper dared Emmett to go skinny-dipping in the fountain outside of our dorm. He obviously didn't want to, but Bella made him. And yet, when we all went to make fun of him, she was the only one that didn't go. What was even weirder was that while he was out there, _she _was blushing. It was kind of funny, but I was confused too.

When Emmett got back in, he wanted revenge on Bella, so she, being smart, picked truth. Unfortunately for her, he came up with a good one. "What was the real reason that you fell asleep in the woods, and not only almost froze to death, but woke up with frozen tears streaming down your face?"

She immediately froze, and so did everyone else. Nick looked confused, but I gave him a "don't say anything, I'll tell you later" look. He seemed to understand.

"Umm… I really… don't… know if… I can answer that… yet" She stuttered. She looked honestly upset about this. I saw Emmett immediately feel sorry that he asked. I know that he wanted to get back at her, but he didn't realize how upset she was about whatever happened. None of us did until we saw her face. She looked as if she wanted to start crying again. Emmett, feeling bad that he was the one who chose this decided to give her our alternative.

"Look, Bella, we usually only do this for really, really hard dares, _but _that question seems to be really hard for you to answer right now, so if you would like, we will give you a dare, and you have to do it, without complaining, no matter what. If you want to agree to that, then you don't have to answer the question." Emmett explained.

She looked really relieved. And, of course, took the dare.

Alice and Rosalie talked for a few minutes about it, and then told us that they had her dare. Bella didn't look the slightest bit nervous, even though she knew that it was going to be worse than skinny dipping. I was kind of surprised.

"Okay Bella! We have it!" Rosalie said, and then looked toward Alice to let her finish.

"You have to kiss Edward!" Alice practically screeched. _Was she serious? _Bella, Nick, and I all had a look of panic on our face. Then our expressions all changed. Bella and Nick looked angry, while I was more like curious. _Was she actually going to kiss me? Would Nick be mad at me after? _

I noticed Jasper and Emmett's smug faces, and Alice and Rosalie's vicious smiles. They were up to something. Something more than just this kiss.

I was still staring at Bella, but my mind was wondering what the two devils were up to, so I didn't even notice that she stomped up to me until she pressed he soft, warm lips against mine. I didn't even have time to react before she pulled away and stomped out of the room, dragging Nick.

Jasper and Emmett still looked smug; Alice and Rosalie looked half confused, and half sorry. But I was paying attention to any of that. I was still thinking the kiss. It was unbelievable. For the single second that it lasted, it was incredible. Unlike any kiss I've ever experienced. Jessica's kisses couldn't even compare. In fact, thinking about Jessica, Lauren, Tanya, even Rosalie, none of their kisses compared.

Yes, believe it or not, Rosalie and I tried going out for a few months when I was a sophomore and she was a junior. I mean, usually I wouldn't go out with someone older than me, but we were around each other so much because of our families, it was almost natural. But we both realized that we were far better off as only friends so we split up. That's when she met Emmett and that fell right into place from there.

And, ew, yes, I went out with Lauren at one point too. Now I only _ever _talk to her when I'm with Jessica. And yet, even Jessica I was slowly drifting away from. It seems like the closer I got to Bella, the further away I was from Jessica. I was almost to the point of breaking up with her. No, not _for _Bella... But _because_ of Bella. Bella is showing me how much better I can do. Just because they're cheerleaders. That doesn't mean anything.

Finally, Tanya. I went out with her for awhile. We met because of our fathers jobs. Both of our fathers were doctors at the same hospital. We met three years ago at the Hospital's fundraiser dinner. It was held twice a year. Once, in March, and again in August. Everyone dressed up and went to this extremely formal dinner. The food was incredibly expensive and it was actually quite boring. The only things that you could do were dance, and eat. Besides that, you could only talk. If you do anything else, you would get in trouble with the boss. Mr. Walker. He was an uptight old man. Both my fathers and Tanya's fathers' boss. They were both next in line to get the place. No one was quite sure who would get it, and you would think that they would be competitive, but they were actually the best of friends.

When we were at the dinner, neither of us had anyone to dance with, so when we met, we just talked together the whole time about how ridiculous the whole thing was. Then, having a partner, we danced together, and it went uphill from there. Their family came over all the time, so we would always see each other, and soon, we were going out.

After a good year or so, I broke up with her. I just didn't like her the way that I did before. We still talk a lot, and I don't regret going out with her like I do with Lauren. Surprisingly, we are actually pretty close friends, besides when she is trying to get me to go out with her again. Yes, she still wants to go out with me. But when she didn't talk about that, she was a pretty good person…except when she was around Alice and Rosalie. She is quite the brat to my Alice and Rosalie.

Well, No, brat is an understatement. She doesn't like them because she feels that they are the reason that we broke up. That's because Alice and Rosalie didn't like her. Or any of my girlfriends for that matter. They seem to think that no girl is good enough for me. I had no clue why, but no matter who I dated, they said the same thing. The only one that was _good enough _for me was Rosalie, but we all agreed that we were better off as friends.

I was snapped out of my trance about my previous girlfriends when Alice looked down and said "She's mad" quietly.

"Well can you really blame her? I would be pretty ticked off if I had to kiss Eddie over here, too. I mean... ew. Just look at him." Emmett joked.

"Haha. Very funny." I gave Emmett an annoyed look. "I'm just kind of surprised you would do that to Bella… and me! I mean, I have a girlfriend! And apparently… Bella likes Nick." It was really weird… this was almost hard to say.

"Oh please, Edward. You liked it. Don't even pretend that you didn't. We saw your face before… and after! If Nick hadn't been here who knows what you would have done?" Rosalie joked with me.

"Actually I know what I would've done… and that is absolutely nothing! And what did you _want _my expression to be? I wasn't going to go running away like a third grader. But, no matter what _I _felt, I don't think Bella is the type of girl to just go around kissing guys. I think it was kind of harsh for you to give her that dare."

They all smirked. It was because I was trying to get off the subject of me. And it was true, I was. I didn't want it to slip that that single second kiss was the best kiss of my lifetime.

"Okay, so first of all, we _had _to give her a harsh dare. It was her alternative for the truth that Emmett gave her. And second, since when do _you _know what type of girl Bella is. I've known her longer than you and _I _don't even know that." Alice said.

They were right. This happened twice today. Nick told me earlier when I told him Bella wasn't his type. I have only known her for a few days, and yet, I feel like I've known her for a _long _time. But I wasn't about to tell Alice and Rosalie that. They would only make fun of me.

"Well, all I'm saying is when you guys said she could have another dare, she took it easily. She knew that it was going to be a tougher dare than Emmett's skinny dipping dare, and yet, she still wanted to do it, and she seemed perfectly calm about it. Then the second that you told her that she had to kiss me she seemed like she was going to hyperventilate."

"Well, either way, it's done now." Jasper said, of course calming us all down. "Now, does anyone here know, or think they might know why Bella couldn't answer her first truth anyway?"

We were all silent. This was one question that we all still wondering. "What even happened that day? She was with you two, and then later on Emmett found her coming out of the woods. How did that happen?" I asked Alice and Rosalie.

"One second, we were talking, then she got a phone call and she told us she would be right back, and then she ran out." Alice said. "The only guess I have is that she lost someone. I'm guessing someone she loved died."

"Yeah, probably." Emmett agreed.

"Look, well whatever it was, it's obviously a really touchy subject. Let's all agree not to bring it up around her again. At least not for awhile."

"Agreed" Jasper said.

And that was the end of that conversation. After that, the girls decided to give Bella and Nick some time together, which for some reason annoyed me more than it should. But we all decided to watch the movie "Indiana Jones, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

It was really bad. At least worse than I expected. When it finished, the girls went to comfort Bella and apologize, so I was expecting Nick to return soon.

**Long chapter!!! Woo Hoo!!!**

**Okay, so first of all, sorry, that was a bad place to end the chapter… but I figured I would end this one where I ended the last one, in Bella's POV. Second of all, speaking of POV's, THIS ONE WAS EDWARDS!!!!!!lol. I definitely wasn't planning on doing Edward's POV, but I decided that it showed more about Edward, and it let you into other characters minds… especially Nick's. **

**Now, what did you think about Edwards POV? Do you want me to do it again or not? **

**Also, what do you think about his past girlfriends? Rosalie?!?! And what about the fact that TANYA STILL HAS A THING FOR HIM!?! **

**Tell me all of your thoughts in REVIEWS!!!! Lol. I love you if you do :] **


	13. Top of the List

**For those of you who read No More Tears to Shed, you already know my computer issues, but for those of you who don't I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING IN LIKE 3 OR 4 WEEKS!!! My computer had some major issues, and I had to get it fixed, so I was unable to use it for awhile, and once I got it back I was really busy, so I didn't have a chance to update. Sorry!**

**Also, it seems like a lot of people liked Edward's POV, which I was happy about. I will try to put in a few of those chapters, but it's not going to be a regular thing. **

**Disclaimer: All hail the incredible owner of Twilight! Stephenie Meyer!!!**

Previously: And that was the end of that conversation. After that, the girls decided to give Bella and Nick some time together, which for some reason annoyed me more than it should. But we all decided to watch the movie "Indiana Jones, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

It was really bad. At least worse than I expected. When it finished, the girls went to comfort Bella and apologize, so I was expecting Nick to return soon. (Edward's POV)

Bella's POV 

_Me? And Edward? Good together???_ Oh no. We were like tooth paste and orange juice! I mean, sure he was hot, but I just couldn't think of Edward, the same Edward that _didn't _stick of for his girlfriend, and locked the same girl out of our dorm on movie night, as my boyfriend. In fact, as a boyfriend, he seemed like a real jerk.

As a friend, he was a little bit better… but I still didn't know him too well, so I can't really judge him.

Either way, I almost laughed out loud at what Alice and Rosalie had just said. Besides, even if we would look good as a couple, Edward had a girlfriend and I almost had a boyfriend… maybe?

"Well, I forgive you for giving me the dare, but there is _no chance _at Edward and I getting together." Right then the door swung open, and in walked a beach blonde wearing super short white skirt with a bright green, too tight tube top, and matching stiletto heels. _And I thought that some of Rosalie's things were bad. _I thought to myself.

"Right, you are, Ms. Swan. There _is _no chance at you and Edward getting together. And if there were, I would ruin it."

The moment she began speaking Alice and Rosalie both grew angry. "You have no right being here, Lauren. Get out." Alice said through her clenched teeth.

"Actually I am here for good reason. I heard that we have a new girl, Ms. Isabella Swan, and I feel that it is my duty to tell her the rules."

"You mean _your _rules?" Rosalie spat out.

"Why, yes… I suppose they are _my _rules; however, if someone chooses not to follow them, there will be consequences." She said turning back towards me. "And believe it or not, in the very few days you have been here, you have already broken two of them."

"Oh, my mistake, would you care to explain?" I asked, in mock sincerity.

She glared at me, but began with her "rules." "Okay, first rule first, I am, and always will be the … oh, what should I call it…" She asked herself.

"Skank?" Rosalie asked seriously.

"Tramp?" Alice said in the same tone.

The blonde, who was apparently this Lauren girl that Rosalie and Alice had been talking about, glared harshly at the girls. But to my surprise, they actually _shrank back_ a little bit. Here I was thinking that Rosalie and Alice weren't afraid of her… but they definitely were.

This Lauren must be _really _bad for Rosalie and Alice to shrink away from her. I, however, was not afraid of her in the slightest, although, according to the girl's warning on movie night, I should be.

"As I was saying," She turned her attention back to me. "I am, and always will be the… queen bee of the school; I guess you could call it. And when I graduate this year, Jessica will take the stand. The first rule is that _no one _even attempts to take it from us. The second rule is that you do not _dare _mess with us. Us, being Jessica and I. Third, you do not dare mess with our boyfriends either. Mine, being Austin…" She paused like she was going to say a last name, but then ended up not saying anything "And from what I have heard, you have already met Edward, Jessica's boyfriend." She replied her eyes narrowing.

"Oh? And what else have you heard?" I asked, curious of whether or not she knew about our game of truth or dare, and if she did, how she found out.

"See, that is what I am here to talk about. The first rule that you broke was rule number two. I heard you were a real brat at movie night and you wouldn't even let Jessica sit on your bed, and then, on top of it, you locked her out, while Edward was still in there. See, that is where you broke rule number three."

"How is that breaking rule number three? I didn't mess with either of your boyfriends. Besides, _Edward locked her out._" I said, praying that she hadn't even heard about truth or dare.

"You liar. Don't you dare try to blame this on Edward. We both know that you did it. And it is breaking rule number three because you chose to lock her out, and since you and Edward were the only two without a boyfriend or girlfriend in the room, so you probably ended up sitting with each other. Therefore, you broke rule three." I almost laughed out loud at her logic, but I decided to let her have her fun pretending to be right.

"Okay, I admit it. I did lock Jessica out. But do you want to know a secret? I don't regret it at all. In fact, I will do it again if I get the chance. Oh, by the way, Edward and I had a lot of fun during the movie together." I said with a smile. Rosalie and Alice gasped.

Lauren was now glaring at me, steaming. "Look, Swan. I am letting you off _far _too easy. You have crossed wayyyyyy over the line, but apparently, you didn't know the rules before. You have now officially been warned. You need to watch yourself." She turned towards the door, about to leave, but I stopped her.

"Hey, Lauren?"

"What do you want?" She huffed, obviously upset that I ruined her dramatic exit.

"Well, for reference sake, just in case I happen to meet another guy named Austin, would you mind telling me your boyfriends last name?" I asked innocently.

Her eyes narrowed, and she quickly stormed out of the room, angrier than I think I have ever seen anyone.

I chuckled to myself at the fact that she didn't even know her boyfriends last name, not that I was surprised. I then turned to face Alice and Rosalie who were staring at me, eyes wide, and with an expression that was between amused and scared.

"Do you know what you just did?" Alice asked.

"Of course! And I don't regret it whatsoever… just like I don't regret locking Jessica out." I smirked.

"No, you don't know what you just did. You just put yourself on the top of Lauren's list. Just for the record you do _not _want to be on that list at all, especially not on the top. Trust me, I haven't even been on the top of that list but I have most definitely gotten my share of Lauren. You put yourself in a really bad position." Rosalie warned me.

"Yeah, whatever… " I shrugged it off.

They both turned away, knowing that I was too stubborn to budge even though they warned me. Then Nick and Edward walked through the door. " Umm… we just over heard Lauren grunting in frustration muttering something like 'that Swan better watch it.' Would you care to explain Bella?" Edward asked as soon as he walked in, his mouth twitching towards a smile.

"Lauren just needs to get over herself. That's all." I muttered loud enough for them to hear.

"Basically, in about five minutes of knowing her, Bella put herself to the top of Laurens list." Alice said, almost repeating what she had said to me.

"All I did was let Lauren know that unlike every other girl at this school, I'm not afraid of her."

"Are you sure that that was all you said? It usually takes a lot to get Lauren upset enough to be grunting down the hallway." Nick chuckled.

"Oh, well she also may have let it slip that one, Bella locked Jessica out during movie night and if she had the chance she would do it again, two, according to Bella, she and Edward had a lot of "fun," during movie night, and three, she so kindly pointed out that Lauren didn't even know her boyfriends last name." Alice giggled.

Both boys eyes were wide and in unison they both yelled "You said what?!?!"

By now I was in the bathroom, beginning to brush my teeth, which I was happy about because I couldn't talk. So I just shrugged.

Then they both began talking at once. Nick was saying something along the lines of "Are you kidding me? No wonder you are on the top of Lauren's list, and she was grunting down the hallway! I have never heard anyone stand up to her like that! That's fantastic! Although, she's going to get you back. You really need to watch yourself now."

And Edward was saying something more like "I can't believe you would say that! One, I locked her out! Not you! Don't risk yourself to save me from the wrath of my girlfriend! I promise I can handle it! However, when Jessica finds out that we "had a lot of fun" during the movie, I hope you realize she is going to be more than upset. This could affect both of us Bella!"

I wasn't listening to Nick as much as Edward, because everything that he was saying just sounded like a repeat of Rosalie and Alice. Instead I turned towards Edward "Look, I don't regret anything that I said. I'm sorry if it is going to get you in trouble with your girlfriend, however I'm sure you can get her drunk tonight, and tomorrow morning she won't even remember what happened." I giggled, along with Alice and Rosalie. Even Nick cracked a smile.

A smile was twitching at Edwards's lips, but he was determined to keep it in. "Bella, I'm kind of surprised, at you. We are only juniors in high school, but I never pictured you to be the type of girl who encourages underage drinking!" Edward said, pretending to be surprised.

"Correction. _We _are only juniors. Jessica, however, must have gotten held back a few years… I don't think she could've really passed the 9th grade without a little bit of extra time… so surely, she is old enough." Now we were all laughing. Even Edward.

"Alright, I need to get changed, and you two need to leave." I said gesturing towards the boys. "I have my first day of classes tomorrow. And I'm still pretty tired."

"Alright. Night Bella." They both replied.

"Night." I replied.

But right before the door closed I heard Nick say something that sounded like "You were right, she _can _be vicious." And I smiled to myself.

Then I hopped in the shower, and when I came out, the January air was cold, even in the heated building, so I pulled on some old sweats and a t-shirt and hopped into bed, ready to take on my first day back to school.

**Okay, so I just wrote this chapter all in one sitting which is unlikely for me, because I really wanted to get another one out for your guys. I hope you like the drama with Lauren. Please REVIEW!!! The more reviews I get the more likely I am to update quickly, so…**

**Get ready, get set…**

**REVIEW!!!!!!**

**Love,**

**Christine**


	14. First Day Fun

**Okay, so one, thank you all soooo much. Those of you who reviewed, read, alerted, ect. This story. In return, you get a super long chapter! Woot woot! **

**Sorry if this seems corny… :] **

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer is my Idol! Someday I hope to own Twilight, too… stinks for me :[ **

Previously: Then I hopped in the shower, and when I came out, the January air was cold, even in the heated building, so I pulled on some old sweats and a t-shirt and hopped into bed, ready to take on my first day back to school.

Bella's POV

"Bella! Bella wake up! Don't make me get Emmett!"

"Alice! Go Away Now!" I never knew that someone as small as Alice could shake someone so violently…

"Bellaaa…" she whined. "It's your first day of school! You have to get up!"

It didn't feel like it was time to wake up yet. "Alice, what time is it?"

"5:30."

"5:30!?!?!" I exclaimed. "Why on earth are you waking me up at 5:30?? My first class isn't until 8:30!!!" I had really been looking forward to sleeping in. In Forks we had to be in homeroom by 7:15. Since we were at a boarding school now I also subtracted the time that it would take to drive to school.

But no. With Alice as my roommate, I would probably be waking up even _earlier _than at Forks. Fantastic.

"Bella, we have to get you ready for your first day of classes, and if you want to be done in time to get breakfast you'd better get up now." It was Rosalie's voice this time. _You're kidding me. _

I groggily opened my eyes. Once my eyes adjusted to the bright light I noticed that Rosalie and Alice were already up and ready. They are absolutely ridiculous. Either way, after the incident with the stitches, I didn't doubt that they would have Emmett physically rip me out of this bed, so I reluctantly got up.

Rosalie, who had been standing near my closet, handed me a pile of clothes and I walked to the bathroom. I let the warm water of my shower really wake me up, although I was still tired, and after washing my hair and shaving, and got out of the shower. The outfit Rosalie had picked me was cute, I'll admit, but it wasn't something that I would pick. A simple deep blue tube top, with a white, long sleeved, half jacket, and dark skinny jeans.

I blow dried my hair, while using a circle brush to give it slight waves. With the waves, it looked cute and Alice couldn't pester me about it.

I also put on my own, natural make up. I was sure that if Alice had done it, it would have made me look better, but in all honesty, I didn't feel like a makeover at six in the morning.

I stepped out of the bathroom, only to see Emmett and Jasper here, also fully dressed. _What is up with everyone getting ready so early? _Alice's face fell when she saw me. "You did that on purpose." She pouted.

I knew that she was talking about my makeup but I pretended to be oblivious. "Huh? Did what?"

Jasper smirked a little, but his girlfriend's evil glare shut him up quickly. "Don't play dumb, Bella. You are really lucky that the guys came early, because if they hadn't I would be wiping that make up right off your face, and starting over."

"Well, the boys are here, so no Bella Barbie!" I laughed. Alice tried glaring at me too, but ended up just laughing.

"Well, now we have extra time… should we go to the cafeteria early, or just wait for Edward?" Rosalie asked. I hadn't realized it before, but the Cullen's and Hale's seemed to do almost _everything _together. Even something like going to breakfast.

"I'm starving. Let's go to the cafeteria and tell Edward to meet us there." Emmett said. We all agreed and started towards the cafeteria while Rosalie called Edward.

"Alright, he's going to meet us there in a little bit." Rosalie announced.

We arrived to the cafeteria quickly and it was almost empty, because it was so early. Only one table was occupied. And sitting there was none other than Lauren and her little wanna-be's. One of which was Jessica. Each of them were giving us, no- me, death glares.

Rosalie, Alice, Jasper, and Emmett each noticed, and they all flinched away, even though the glares were pointed directly at me. Lauren's and Jessica's glares were about 5 times as bad as Alice's, and it's safe to say that Alice's could be menacing. The only difference was that I always shrunk away from Alice's glares, but to Lauren's table, I simply smirked and walked toward the food.

Seeing this, my friend's eyes went wide for a moment, and then they scurried after me. We got our food and proceeded to a table near the entrance of the cafeteria, so that Edward would be able to find us.

"How do you stand that?" Jasper asked. "Their eyes are almost painful."

"Well, I'll be honest, a bunch of beach-bunnies aren't exactly the type of people I'm afraid of." I laughed. I could've sworn that I heard Rosalie mutter "you should be.." but I can't be sure.

"I don't know what I did, either." I admitted.

"Maybe it has something to do with you completely owning Lauren last night, which by the way was probably a bad move." Emmett answered.

I turned towards Rosalie and Alice. "Why don't you two just tell the whole school?" I asked, my voice dripping with heavy sarcasm.

They snickered "We didn't have to. They got overly excited about someone _finally _standing up to Lauren and they passed it around the school." Alice said pointing towards Edward and Nick who were walking towards us.

I looked over towards them, but not before sneaking a glance a Laurens table who were all still glaring at me and whispering, except for Jessica who suddenly turned back around to face the inside of the table , rather than at me.

Edward walked straight to our table without even glancing towards his girlfriend. Nick on the other hand looked worried about me, probably because of their glares.

"Bella, _what _did you _do _???" Nick asked, obviously referring to Laurens table.

I just shrugged and continued eating my waffles. The cafeteria was beginning to fill in now, so the other table couldn't hear what we said, even when we talked in a normal tone.

"Bella didn't do anything." Edward answered Nick. "It's bad enough that they keep blaming Bella," he said, with his thumb jabbed out towards Lauren's table. "It's not her fault. In fact, she has nothing to do with it." Edward said, looking angry.

"What's not my fault?" I asked

"She has nothing to do with what?" Emmett asked at the same time. But before Edward could answer, Lauren and two of her "friends" walked towards us. However, neither of these two were Jessica. I noticed her still sitting at the table, facing the center rather than us, with her head lying in her arms. She was obviously upset about something.

I was too busy looking at Jessica to notice that Lauren was here, until she tapped me on the shoulder. As soon as she had my attention she began yelling at me. "Who do you think you are? You have only been to this school for like four days, so stop pretending that you own it. You do _not _own it. _I _do." She said, her eyes narrowing, trying to scare me.

"Oh, really? Did your daddy buy it for you?" I asked with sarcastic curiosity. Her eyes were now slits, and she looked as if she was about to pounce. The entire cafeteria was now staring at us.

"Look, I'm not here to try to argue with a _newbie_." She spit out the word like it was poison.

I scoffed. "…newbie. How very creative Lauren. Did you make that one up by yourself, or have you clones do it for you?"

I smiled and took a bite of my waffles.

"Alright Swan. That's it. I have warned you too many times already. But what you did was _absolutely _unforgivable… Jessica will get him back soon anyway, but how you even attempted breaking up Edward and Jessica was a really bad move on your part. But the fact that you somehow _succeeded_ is one of the worst possible things you could have done." I choked on my waffle.

When I could finally, somewhat, breathe, I coughed out "Broke… up…. Them?!?!?!" I said gesturing to Edward and Laurens table where Jessica was sitting.

"Don't play dumb with me. You know what you did. And this is your very _last _warning. Next time that you do _anything _at all to any of my girls you_ will _regret it." She sneered before turning towards her table.

"Hey, Lauren?" I called out, once again ruining one of her 'dramatic exits'. She turned around slowly but didn't reply, I decided that was my cue to go on. "Is that a threat?" I asked with faux surprise crossing my face.

"As a matter of fact, it is." She replied before joining her table once again.

The cafeteria was almost at a standstill watching me and Lauren go at it. I still didn't understand why everyone was so scared of Lauren, but I just ignored their stares and turned towards Edward.

"So when were you going to tell me that you broke up with her?!?!" I practically screeched the end.

"Umm… now." He said with a sheepish, yet gorgeous, grin.

"Good timing." I muttered under my breath.

I looked around our table to see that Emmett and Jasper were high-fiving each other, and Rosalie and Alice were grinning madly. That just goes to show how _little _the Cullen's liked Jessica.

The rest of breakfast passed with many surprised stares my way, even more glares from the "queen bee" and her friends, and of course, many, _many _flirty looks toward Edward.

_Wow. He announces he's single and not even five minutes later girls are trying to be his girlfriend. Why am I not surprised? _

Edward didn't even seem to notice them, though. He just ate his breakfast like any other normal kid.

Then it was time for school. Alice had gone to the front desk with me, because one, she was going to show me around, and two, she was _dying _to know if we had any classes together. The lady at the front desk was a young, tall woman, around her late twenties. She had handed me a map of campus, my schedule, and a notice for each of my teachers to sign.

My classes were, in order, English, Government, Trigonometry, Spanish, Lunch, Biology 2, and finally PE. Ew. PE. PE meant changing in locker rooms, attempting to play sports like basketball, bad mitten, ect. All of which I could not play for the life of me. On the bright side, Alice told me that Nick was in my PE class… but then again, I will probably just embarrass myself to no end, which in that case, it's a bad thing…

I had three classes with Alice. English, Trigonometry, and Spanish. Nick and Edward were in the same Trig. Class, also. I was with Jasper in Government, and luckily, we all had lunch same period. Alice had told me that the rest of the Cullen's got their schedules changed to have the same lunch, and it was just by chance that Nick and I did too.

The only other class that I had with any Cullen's was Biology 2, which I also had with Edward. This was going to be a _very _good year considering there is one of the Cullen's (or Nick) in each of my classes. But then again, Edward and I haven't really gotten to know each other (…unless you count the kiss…), and I'm still under his bad first impression.

However, now that I knew what a devil Jessica could be, I could kind of understand why he had locked her out… although I wasn't sure why he hadn't just broken up with her earlier.

Alice walked with me to English, since we had it together, anyway. That class had passed quite quickly since, thank god, the teacher Mr. Malcolm (**A.N: I'll be honest, I don't remember most of the teachers names, and especially don't know which one goes for which subject, so I'm just going to make up my own :]) **didn't make me announce anything in front of the class. It also helped that the only two seats left were right next to each other, so I didn't have to sit with some random person that would most likely just stare at me all class. Unfortunately, though, Alice was seated at the opposite point of the room, sitting next to some kid that looked incredibly long as Mr. Malcolm dragged on and on about imagery writing. I mean, honestly, how many times do teachers think they have to teach us the same stuff?!?! I started learning about Imagery writing in practically seventh grade, and yet we were learning it, yet again, in the eleventh grade.

Government went along in almost the same fashion, however, in this class a few people recognized me from the cafeteria this morning. Also, Jasper sat at the table right next to mine, instead of across the room as with Alice in English. Unfortunately, though, both Jasper and I had horrid seating partners, for the teacher, Mrs. Gilmore chose them. Jasper was sitting next to one of Lauren's bottle blonde friends, and I was sitting next to one of Lauren's other friends, however this one seemed to be a bit more shy, and she had black hair. But shy, or not, they kept leaning over me and Jasper to talk to one another, and poor Jasper had them both flirting with him. Did they not understand that he had a girlfriend? And then there was the fact of course that they hated me for both Jessica and Lauren's sake, so I got many cold glares coming from those two.

Trig. Was a whole different story, though. The teacher, Ms. Allen, _did _make me announce who I was and where I was from to the class. That was when it dawned on me that I had never told the Cullen's that I was from Forks. Nevertheless, I walked up to the front of the classroom, carefully, but quickly, trying to get this over with. It was once I was finally up there that I noticed not only were Alice, Nick, and Edward, in this class, but Lauren _and _Jessica happened to be here, too. _Oh, joy._ I quickly announced that I was Bella Swan from Forks, Washington, and got back to my seat. Edward and Alice gave me weird looks when I said where I was from, and then Edward looked curious. Ms. Allen was really laid back. As long as we got our work done, she would let us talk _and _sit wherever we wanted. I, of course, sat with Alice, at the table right next to Nick and Edward. Lauren sat with some guy I didn't know, who may I add, looked kind of hot, but she was _all _over him, so I kind of figured that he was her boyfriend, Austin. However, I did notice her _and _Jessica sneaking glances at Edward every once in awhile. Jessica was sitting with one of her friends… the same one who was draped over Jasper in Gov. only now she was draped over Nick. Either he didn't notice, or he just pretended not to.

Spanish was much like my first two classes, but I was able to sit right next to Alice.

Next it was lunch. Alice and Rosalie had the _brilliant _(heavy sarcasm) idea of just going to the cafeteria for lunch. They said since it was my fist day, we should just go to the café so I could meet more people…

Lauren and her group luckily weren't there, although my table still seemed to be the center of attention. A few bold guys came up and asked me out, much to Nick's dismay; however I declined each of them, which seemed to make him happier. Edward just pretended to not pay attention when guy after guy came up, and Emmett and Jasper just snickered. One of the guys came up and asked Rosalie out first, but when she politely declined saying she had a boyfriend, while gesturing to Emmett, he just said, "Well, what about the new girl? I heard you were single, what do ya say?"

"I say that my name is Bella, not new girl, and as a matter of fact I have a boyfriend." Not necessarily gesturing to anyone. He left, upset, while Emmett and Jasper were almost crying from laughing so hard. I guess it was pretty darn funny to them when he asked Rose out first, and then was rejected yet again by me.

No one at my table seemed to get that I was kidding when I said that I had a boyfriend, so once he left, Edward asked "So… you two are … uh, going out?" As if he was surprised.

I snorted. "No. I just needed an excuse to make him look stupid. What kind of jerk would ask Rose out, and after getting rejected, ask me out thinking as if he might _actually _have a chance." Edward seemed to calm a bit, for a reason I didn't know, and everyone else chuckled at what I had said to the kid, now that they actually understood it.

Luckily, Lauren and her posse went out to eat somewhere else on campus, so there was no trouble with them during lunch. However, I wasn't so lucky in my next class. For one thing, the teacher, Mr. Banner _did _make me announce myself and where I was from in front of the entire class, and once again, Edward gave me a curious look when I mentioned Forks. I would have to ask him about that later… besides that, Lauren was in this class. And I was _really, really _worried when Mr. Banner was choosing my seat, because there were two empty seats. One, next to Edward, which was the seat that I _prayed to god _Mr. Banner gave me. I would much rather sit next to Edward than the person in the only other open seat.

Lauren.

So after Mr. Banner signed the sheet, I asked him where I was going to sit. He looked around the room, before deciding on next to Edward, which I mentally thanked god for. Lauren looked _really _upset. First her eyes bulged and then she looked from me, to Edward, and then back again. When her eyes met mine the second time, her eyes narrowed into tiny slits. I simply smiled, and took my seat next to Edward. But she, of course, wasn't having any of that.

"Excuse me, Mr. Banner, but I was really hoping that Bella could sit next to me. I have an empty seat next to me and Bella and I already know each other. I just met her at her dorm yesterday. Could Bella sit next to me, please?" She practically begged.

I couldn't believe it. If I was sitting next to anyone else, Lauren would have probably moved farther away from me, but no. This was Edward. And of course, there was no way that I could sit next to Edward if she had anything to do with it.

"Well, miss Swan is new here, and I would like her to feel welcome. So she can choose to either sit with you or Edward." He gave me a genuine smile.

Lauren went deadly on me. And I do mean _deadly._ However, I really didn't care. I didn't even glance at Edward to see his reaction before saying "As a matter of fact, Mr. Banner, I would much rather sit with Edward. His sister is my roommate and I have heard that he is quite smart. In my old school, I wasn't so good with this subject, and I really don't think that Lauren has the brains to help me with this." And I took my seat.

At that moment, the class erupted in laughter, including Edward, while Mr. Banner chuckled a bit, obviously understanding where I was coming from, however, he made the class settle down. Lauren's eyes went wide as I said this, and then she got _really _embarrassed, right before getting even angrier. I knew that I was in for it, but to be perfectly honest, I didn't care.

See, the way I saw it, was that Lauren was _absolutely not _someone I would be afraid of. Considering everyone's reactions, I would probably be embarrassed by some of the things she was planning, but afraid of her??

Not Me.

We got to work on our labs, which were just deciphering what specific specimen's were, through a microscope. Every time that I would answer one Edward would check it also, and then be very surprised when I was right. "I thought you said you were bad at this…?" Edward asked when we were done.

"I did _say _that, but that doesn't mean I meant it. I just didn't want to sit next to Lauren, and it gave me a good excuse to make her look bad in front of the class." I said with a smile. If it had been anyone else, even one Jessica, I would've probably just said that I would rather sit with Edward because I knew him better, but with Lauren, I had to fit in a good insult too :] .

Edward laughed. "Just wait until the rest of the academy hears what you did. And they _will _hear, considering the entire class loved it." He said with a smile. "You are going to be everyone's idol." He chuckled.

"Yeah, well, I do my best."

We finished before everyone else, considering Edward and I both knew all of this, so we had time to talk. "Do you know something about Forks? I mean, every time I say that I'm from Forks, Washington, you look at me funny. Am I missing something?" I asked, remembering my question from earlier.

"Well, I know someone who moved there a little less than a year ago." Hmm.

"Really? Who?" I asked, now very curious.

"Tanya. Tanya Denali." My heart stopped for a second. Flashes of Tanya on top of Jake on his couch flashed into my mind. She _saw _me. The whole time. She _knew _I was there…

I could feel more tears well into my eyes, and thankfully, the bell rang right then. _Saved by the Bell. _I thought as I ran out of the classroom with Edward calling after me.

No tears had fallen yet, and I didn't think that they were going to, since I was slowly getting over the incident. However, if any tears did fall, I didn't want Edward to be there to see it, although I was sure he saw the tears in my eyes anyway.

Instead I just walked into the girl's bathroom for a minute, before Edward could come, and I quietly calmed myself down. It wasn't quite as bad as I had expected. In fact, it only took me about two minutes and one splash of the face (with the water from the sink) to calm me down. And then I decided to go back out into the hall, hoping that Edward wouldn't have waited for me…

But he did.

"Bella, are you alright? I mean, I hope I didn't offend you or anything…" He said quickly.

"Don't worry Edward you didn't do anything. I'm fine. I think I need to go to class though. I have PE next." I said it obvious disappointment.

"You don't like Gym very much, do you?" He said, a smirk playing on his face.

"Uh. I hate it. I get sick just thinking about it." The moment I said this I got a great idea, and from the look on Edwards face, we were thinking the same thing. "In fact, I don't feel very good at all. Maybe I should just go home. But then again, it's my first day, and I wouldn't want to miss my very first PE class in this school." I said with faux disappointment.

"No, No, Bella. If you're not feeling good we need to get you back to your dorm immediately. No more classes for today. Especially not PE." He said, playing along.

"But Edward…" I whined, still pretending.

"No, no buts Bella. I wouldn't want you getting sick."

"Fine." I huffed out as if I were actually upset about this. Then we walked down to the infirmary, where the nurse took in my features, which were still overly pale from thinking about Tanya, and without even taking my temperature, she called the gym teacher, telling him I was very sick and couldn't make it. She also excused Edward from class, telling him that it was her orders to get me safely back to my dorm. _Wow, did I really look that bad?_ I couldn't help thinking, seeing as how strict her orders were.

Once we were out of the infirmary, I asked Edward if everyone was meeting once their classes were done, or not.

"Well, I'm sure Alice and Rosalie are going to want to see you after your first day, and Emmett and Jasper will most likely do their homework in your dorm with the girls." He looked at me sheepishly. "Sorry that we seem to hang out in your room the most. Before you came half of the room was empty, so there was more room for us to all hang out, and Rosalie's room is a single, so it's not quite as big."

"Don't worry about it. So are you and Nick coming?" I asked, hopeful… although I couldn't quite be sure if I was more hopeful for Edward or Nick. I tried to convince myself it was the latter.

Edward chuckled. "I think we're coming… that is, of course, if we are invited." He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"That was a very stupid question…" I replied with a smirk.

"Too bad that wasn't a question." He replied with even more certainty.

"Maybe not, but you were expecting an answer…"

"And that answer would be…?"

"But, of course, you are invited. Tell Nick, I don't want him to feel left out." I said , trying to act serious without much success.

Edward cracked a smile, but then he, too, became serious. "You really like Nick, don't you?" He seemed almost a little bit surprised at this.

"I think so. I know that no matter what happens with our… erm… relationship, we will always be friends. He's just so easy to be around, I think that's what I like about him the most." I replied honestly.

"Not to pry, but are you trying to say that you don't think you and Nick will have a lasting relationship?" He asked.

I had to think about this one. I had thought about it all day. It started at breakfast. I had seen him eyeing one of Lauren's friends. The same one that sat next to me in Gov. with black wavy hair. "I'm not really sure." I answered after a minute or so. "I thought so at first, but I think maybe he sees me the same way I'm beginning to see him. Attractive, but more as a friend… If you know what I mean." I wasn't sure if he would understand it. Maybe this was just a weird thing that girl's minds think about.

"I think I see what you're saying. The same thing happened with me and Tan-" he stopped himself, however, I already knew what he was beginning to say. "-a friend. The only difference is that she still wants me to be her boyfriend." He said casually, as if it were nothing. But I let the words sink in. _Tanya. Edward thinking of her as his "friend." But she wanted to be more than friends?? Then what happened back at Jake's house? If she liked Edward then… _

I shook the thoughts out of my head… for now. I didn't want a repeat of my run to the girl's bathroom. We just got to my dorm, too, so it was perfect timing. "You want to just come in and wait for everyone else? We can call Nick once classes get out, and according to you, everyone else will just arrive at some point. There is no point for you to go back to your dorm."

He accepted the offer, and then after making popcorn, we sat down and began our homework. I didn't have too much, however, the math I got quite confused with, and so it took me a while. Luckily, Edward happened to be great at math, and he helped me through the problems much faster than I would've done them by myself.

Soon we were both done, and everyone else should be getting out of classes in about five minutes. I decided to take advantage of this time.

"Hey, Edward, you mind if I ask you something?" I wasn't sure if he would want to answer this or not, so I decided to play it safe by asking him first.

"Go ahead."

"Why did you break up with Jessica?"

The look on his face told me he hadn't been expecting this.

He looked thoughtful for a moment, before finally answering. "Well, to be honest, when I met you, I saw how much better I could do." _Is it just me, or was that a compliment? _

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when I met you, I noticed for one, there are girls that have a lot more intellect than Jessica. To be honest, I really don't want a stupid girlfriend, and just like you pointed out to the class today about Lauren, she's not exactly the brightest person..." He said with a smirk. "And then when we had that movie night, I noticed how rude Jessica was. Rose and Alice had always hated her, and she felt the same way, but I thought that she only hated them because they wanted us to break up… but then I saw how rude she was to you, and we hadn't even met, and that made me recognize how rude she is." He paused, as if he wasn't sure whether or not to go on, but he did. "And then, I also noticed how… beautiful you are." He stopped for another moment, as if to make sure I wouldn't run away. "I thought that I saw Jessica as someone beautiful before, but now I realize that all I had seen was skin. She's not beautiful, she's skanky. Maybe if she had covered up a little bit more, then it would be easier to compare you two." He cracked a smile.

"So, in that case, I really _was _the reason that you two broke up. You told everyone at breakfast that I wasn't…"

"…Well in a sense, yes. But you're not really the reason that I broke up… your just proof of the reason. See, I broke up with her because I know that I could do better than that. But when I say that, I don't necessarily mean you. But you are proof that there _is _someone better than her out there… if that makes sense."

"Ya, I see what you're saying. Now you just have to find someone else who is better than her. Good enough for you." I said with a smile. I was really glad that Edward had been truthful to me. One, because I was really curious of why he broke up with her, and two, because whether he knew it or not, what he just said was a major compliment.

Right then my cell phone rang, and I picked it up first ring. "Hello?"

"Bella! Ohmigod Bella, are you okay?!?! Nick said you weren't in PE. Where are you?" I heard Alice's chirping voice over the phone.

"Hey, I'm fine. I skipped PE. Not in the mood. I'm back at our dorm with Edward." I heard her screech with Rosalie over the phone. It sounded like I was on speaker.

"Wait a minute, lemme get this straight. You… and Edward… skipped your last class, and now your back at our dorm… alone. Ohmigod!!!" It was Rosalie's voice this time.

"Oh shut up you two. Edward just helped me with my homework." I looked over at Edward who was smirking. He had obviously heard what Alice and Rosalie were saying… they were _very_ loud. "Besides, he can hear every word your saying. Just find Jasper, Emmett, and Nick and get over here. We're doing homework, then ordering pizza. Oh wait, _you're _going to do homework, while Edward and I watch, because we already finished.

They just laughed, along with Edward. "Alright, Bella. See you soon."

"Bye."

I couldn't help but giggle at them even once we had hung up. Edward did, too. "So I guess you know that those two want us to get together." Edward had said, without any discomfort.

"Haha, so I've heard. That's the reason that they gave me that dare, you know." I answered matter-of-factly.

He thought about that for a second. "Hmm. I guess I didn't know that." He said, still thinking about something. Then an idea popped into my head. I was very curious, but I wasn't sure if I could handle talking about it. I decided to take a chance.

"How do you know Tanya Denali?" I asked him.

He looked at me weird, either because the question was completely random, or because last time he had even mentioned her I ran away, almost in tears. However, he still answered me. "Her father, Eleazer used to work at the same hospital as Carlisle. Carlisle was Eleazer's boss, but Eleazer was next in line to get the place. Then Eleazer got promoted, but he wasn't replacing Carlisle. If he wanted the higher job, then he could take it, but it would have to be at the hospital in Forks. His entire family moved there with him. We still see them, though, because of business parties, and such." Once he had said this, I let out a sigh of relief. _Only because of his father's work. Nothing else… calm down Bella. _

"Okay, so you _only _know her from your fathers work?" I just had to reassure myself.

"Well that and…" He was hesitant to say whatever he was planning next. "And I went out with her…"

I froze and let those words sink in. _Edward … going out with Tanya… _I had to keep myself calm. "When exactly did you go out with her?"

"It was before she moved to Forks." _Okay, that wasn't too bad. Before I even knew her… _I let this information get into my head and once it was there, I just tried to forget it all over again.

But the door barged open, and in walked Alice with news. "Tanya just called! They are going to Carlisle and Esme's house this weekend. They want us to go see them. Oh, Bella, you can come too!!!"

_How extremely ironic._

**Ohmigoodness!!! 12 pages!!!!!!!!!!!! Longest chapter I have ever written!!!! Okay, I have a question for you guys, would you rather have longer chapters (such as this one) that take longer to update? OR the same ones that I was doing before, with quicker updates??? I kind of like the longer ones, but I don't know about you guys. REVIEW AND TELL ME PLEASE!!!! **

**Love,**

**Christine**


	15. The beginning of a lonngggg weekend

**Another Chapter… AND February vacation! Woo Hoo!!! Okay, enough of my cheering… read! (Oh, and also, you guys mostly said longer chapters… but I promise to still try to update quickly) **

**Disclaimer: Once upon a time there was a sad girl named Christine. When Stephenie asked Christine why she was sad, Christine explained that she was upset because Stephenie owned Twilight instead of Christine. Stephenie laughed at her. THE END. **

Previously: But the door barged open, and in walked Alice with news. "Tanya just called! They are going to Carlisle and Esme's house this weekend. They want us to go see them. Oh, Bella, you can come too!!!"

_How extremely ironic._

Bella's POV

"Wait a minute… You know Tanya, don't you?" Edward noticed. "This is great! No you can come with us and already know someone there. My mother really wants to meet you since Alice never stops talking about you. And now you will know Tanya, and possibly her two sisters, too!" Edward for some reason seemed overly excited about this.

"Oh! Bella does know Tanya from Forks? In that case you will probably know her friend. She told us that she's taking someone with her, so you will probably know them, too." Alice told me. _Great. _Tanya and one of her friends, in the same house as my best friends, their family, and me. _What could go wrong? _

I wish that I had met the Cullen's mother before this weekend, because with Tanya there, there was no promising that I would give a good first impression.

"I- uh… are you sure you want me there? I mean I don't want to interrupt your… uh, family time." I said, praying that they would let it go, but of course they didn't.

"Are you kidding?!?! Like Edward said, Esme is dying to meet you! She would be so angry if she didn't get to meet you first chance!" Rosalie, who had followed Alice into the room, announced.

And that was that. I had tried further protesting, but Alice wouldn't have it. When Alice decides on something, there was very rarely anything that could change her mind. So I would be spending the weekend with Tanya, her equally horrid sister Irina, and her other sister Kate, who I've never talked to, but was definitely not as bad as her sisters.

This was going to be a great weekend… not.

…

The next few days went by quickly. _Too quickly._ After my choice of seats in biology on Monday, everyone agreed that Lauren was probably already planning something, so I should just stay away for awhile. Although I honestly didn't care, Alice and Rosalie made sure that the only time I would see them was in my classes where we couldn't talk anyway. So this week was quite uneventful. But now it was Friday evening, and I was absolutely dreading the next few days. I had been planning on just ignoring Tanya all weekend. I had attempted to tell Alice that I was feeling sick, but she just handed me Advil and told me that if I didn't feel better by the weekend then she would take me anyway and have Carlisle look at me.

There was absolutely no way out of this.

"Which one do you like better, Red or Yellow Pumps?" Rosalie had asked Alice.

"With that shirt?!? Neither." Alice and Rosalie were putting together my outfits for this weekend and I could already see that I wouldn't like them. However, my weekend was already going to be horrible, so it didn't matter too much. Alice and Rosalie were _very _happy when I had yes without a fight.

"Rosalieeee…" I whined. "You know that I don't do pumps. I know that I told you two that you could chose my wardrobe for this weekend, but that means that I am _trusting _you to chose clothes that I would _like. _If you chose bad choices this time, then there is no way I will let you choose if we ever go on a long vacation." I warned them. Rosalie seemed to choose a _tiny _bit better after that, but Alice went on choosing what she would like. She probably just figured that I would give in next time.

Bored, I decided to go to the café to get dinner. I figured that Alice and Rosalie would just eat something from our mini fridge since they were so busy doing their work.

When I got to the café I noticed Nick sitting by himself at a table. I decided to sit with him, but I had to get my food first. Waiting in line, I noticed that the girl that seemed to like nick- the same girl who sat next to me, but flirted with Jasper in gov.- was in front of me. She wasn't with Lauren's friends though, which I thought was weird. She followed them almost everywhere… but not a single other girl from that group was in the cafeteria. The girl, whoever she was, got her food, and walked away. After I had gotten my food, I turned towards Nick, and began walking towards him, but stopped myself when I noticed the shy black haired girl sitting with him.

I didn't really understand why this girl, whoever she was, was part of Lauren's group. She was really pretty, I guess, but she didn't _act _like Lauren at all… except for her excessive flirting… but then again, Alice and Rosalie would do the same thing if they didn't have boyfriends.

Then Nick looked over at me, and saw me just staring at them. He waved me over to him and I had no choice but to go over with him.

"Hey Bella! I wasn't expecting to see you here. You're always with Alice and Rose and they said they were just eating at the dorm tonight."

"Yeah, well they are too busy packing all of _my _clothes for this weekend, and I got kind of bored."

"Oh, you're going with them this weekend too?"

"Yeah, apparently Esme really wants to meet me." I laughed.

"Esme is really sweet. You're going to love her. Good luck with Tanya though." Even he warned me.

"Hah. Thanks so much. So I take it you're not coming?"

"Nah, I'm staying here to avoid Tanya. I usually don't like to interrupt their family time, anyway." He answered.

"No kidding. I tried getting out of this by telling them that and not a single one of them budged. They are practically dragging me there."

Both he and the girl laughed. It seemed like he just remembered that she was there. "Oh! Bella, this is Amy. Amy, Bella." He said, gesturing towards us.

"Hey." I said as I shook her hand.

"Hi." _Wow. She really was shy._ She didn't glare at me or anything… although when she was around Lauren she always did.

We talked a little bit after that, but it was mostly small talk. Amy really was nice, but I noticed that she just followed Lauren around like a puppy. _I _think that Lauren just wanted her to be a part of her group because she was pretty. Lauren needed everyone in her group to have good looks, because it attracted more attention from guys. I think that the only reason that Amy was part of that group because she was afraid of Lauren. It was only a theory, but seeing how nice Amy was, it made a lot of sense.

I finished my dinner, and decided to let these two talk privately, since that was obviously what they had been planning before I came along. _Well there goes all feelings that Nick had for me… _

A small wave of rejection hit me. Not too bad. I was able to get over it quickly, but it still made me feel a _little _bit jealous. I had begun to like Nick as more than a friend… however it didn't feel right. I knew from the beginning that we would work out better as friends, but he was adorable…

I sighed. Well if there had been any chance of me getting a boyfriend at this school it was over. There were only a few remotely good looking guys. And half of them were jerks that I would go out with, and then out of the half that I _would _consider being my boyfriend, they either already had girlfriends, or wouldn't ever ask me out.

I was back at the dorm, but when I went inside all of the lights were off. There was a note on the fridge though.

_Bella, _

_Everyone went to bed already. I know it's early, but we're waking up at 3:30 tomorrow so that we can leave by four. Sorry, but we want to get to our parents house before the Denali's arrive. You should probably go to bed when you get back. I'm guessing it will be around 9:30, and you will still only get about six and a half hours of sleep… sorry again. Night!_

_~Alice._

Sure enough, I looked at my watch and it was 9:32. Leave it to Alice to know _exactly _when I'm going to get back. She was already asleep, and knowing her she would wake me up before 3:30 just so that I could look "presentable" for the ride. But then again, I really didn't want to look bad when I first meet Esme… she is probably beautiful like all of the Cullen's and Hale's.

I brushed my teeth, changed into sweats and a comfy shirt, and hopped into bed, drifting into sleep in just seconds.

…

"Wake up sleepy head! Hellllloooooo?? Anybody in there?!?! …Guys, I think she's dead." _What is _Emmett doing in here?

I groaned when I remembered what today was. The day that I get to wake up at 3:30 in the morning for Tanya. _Joy. _

"Never mind! She's alive… kind of."

"Shut up Emmett!" I growled at him. He just laughed.

"Come on Bella. I let you sleep as late as possible, but we're leaving in a half hour. The guys already got everything in the car, you just need to get ready and eat." Rosalie's voice said.

_The guys already got everything in the car? _I opened my eyes and noticed not only Emmett, but Jasper and Edward were all staring at me in amusement. I didn't even want to know what my hair looked like right now.

I was in no mood to wake up yet, however I was a little bit hungry… "What's for breakfast?" I asked no one in particular.

"Eddie made pancakes. They're on the counter." Edward growled at what Emmett had called him, but I couldn't help but get excited. I was soooo in the mood for pancakes.

I threw a pillow at Emmett. "Kay. Now get out. I gotta change."

"No you don't. Alice said that she is going to have to make you "presentable," before we get to the house after the long trip, so she said you might as well be comfortable on the drive." Jasper corrected.

_Yay! Bella Barbie is the _last _thing I want to do at 3:30 in the morning. _"Thanks Alice!"

"No problamo chica!" Alice called from the other room. I had no clue how she had so much energy this early. The neighbors will probably complain.

I finished eating the pancakes, which, my I add, were delicious. Edward is a great cook. Then I brushed my teeth, flipped a brush though my hair, which, may I add was indeed a mess, and we all got in the cars. Edward, Emmett, and Rosalie hopped In Edward's Volvo, and Alice, Jasper, and I got into Alice's Porsche.

Thankfully, Alice drove, and Jasper sat next to her in the passenger seat, so I had the entire back to myself, and before we had even driven 2 miles, I was out cold.

…

I woke up when the soft purr of the engine that was my lullaby to sleep stopped. A door opened, and then closed again, and I heard Jasper, Emmett, and Edward talking outside. When I opened my eyes Alice was already taking an outfit that she had brought for me. Rosalie was next to her.

"No, not that shirt. She will hate us if we make her wear that on her first day meeting our parents. You can give her that one tomorrow." Rosalie argued.

"Yeah. What Rosalie said." Both of their heads shot up in my direction.

"Bella! Good, you're up! Here, put these on. We already threatened the guys not to look, so you'll be fine." I looked out the window and noticed we were at a gas station.

"What about all of _those _guys?" I asked, referring to the weird guys whose eyes were glued to Alice's yellow Porsche as if it were the queen of England.

"Emmett will take care of them. Besides, the windows are tinted." I agreed with them once Rosalie said this. I remember trying to see if I left my jacket in here after I went shopping with Alice. I couldn't see a thing. The windows were as dark as possible. So I trusted them and began to get ready.

Once I had on the outfit that Alice had given me, which was a long sleeve midnight blue turtleneck dress that went to about mid-thigh, with brown cowgirl boots, and a thick belt that went around my torso, Alice declared me ready. I brushed through my hair and added a cute long necklace that matched, and we got back into the car. Within minutes we arrived at a humongous white house. I wasn't even sure if this could be considered a house. It was more like a motel. It must have had ten bedrooms in it!

At first I thought that this was some kind of joke, or we were meeting their parents somewhere. But then out walked the handsome blonde male that I recognized as Carlisle, and a beautiful, petite (but not as small as Alice) woman with wavy chestnut hair and a dazzling smile. With that smile I knew she was related to the Cullen's somehow.

Each kid, including Rosalie and Jasper, even though they weren't technically Cullen's, ran up to the adults and hugged them. I noticed during this reunion, that Alice and Emmett were the only two that called them "Mom" and "Dad." Even Edward called them Carlisle, and Esme, who I assumed was the woman. That's really weird…. Why would Edward call his own parents by their first name?

I let this go, however, when Carlisle turned towards me. "Bella! It's so nice to see you again! You look much healthier, too! This is my wife, Esme. We are so happy you decided to stay with us."

_Decide _wouldn't exactly be my first choice of a word, considering Alice and Rose practically dragged me here, but I didn't want to offend anyone, so I didn't mention that. "Oh, thank you so much for having me! It's good to see you too! And it's very nice to meet you Mrs. Cullen." I said making sure I was polite. After all, I wasn't sure how much "politeness she was going to see once the Denali's got here.

"Oh please. I am insisting you call me Esme. Mrs. Cullen makes me sound so old!" well that kind of fit. She didn't _look _old.

"Thanks for inviting me, Esme. This house is unbelievably beautiful." Her face lit up at this.

"Oh! Really!?! Thank you so much! Just wait until you see the inside! I don't mean to sound like I'm bragging, but I have been working on the inside of this house since we bought it, and I think I have finally got it perfect!" She kind of reminded me of Alice when she went shopping. "Come on kids! I want to show you all!"

I turned towards my friends and saw them all smiling _a lot. _They all loved to see Esme happy. It was so sweet.

I walked inside and noticed how _right _she was. The house looked like it came straight out of a magazine. It was _gorgeous. _

The entire house was very open. It was like one _giant _room. The entire back wall was one giant window that let tons of light shine in. The furnishings of the kitchen cabinets were a beautiful chestnut wood that matched the wooden floors. The wood turned into carpet towards the "living room" part. The entire house had some kind of balance that connected everything beautifully. Nothing was out of place.

"Esme… it's _beautiful._" I said. That was an understatement. If Esme did this all by herself she deserved her own decorating tv show.

"Oh Thank You! I'm so happy you like it! I was afraid that Carlisle was just being nice, and the kids haven't seen it since I fixed the wall…"

"Cough, cough, Emmet." Edward said.

"Hey! You were the one that threw it! How did you expect me to catch that one?! The wall was in my way!!!" Emmett argued back.

I just laughed. "No, really, this is unbelievable." I stopped them from fighting even more by getting off that subject.

"Yeah, mom this is great." Alice chirped in. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Oh Yay! Thank you so much!" _Like I said… just like Alice and shopping. _Radiance and happiness was beaming off of Esme and it was one of those times when you can't help feel happy just being around her. She was so _sweet_.

We all got our bags out of the car, and everyone set up their things in a room. The guys all separated into three different rooms, but Alice and Rosalie wanted us to all room together so we all put our bags in what I assumed was Alice's room when she came home. It was towards the back of the house, so the back wall was mostly windows. There was, however a large, rectangular, brass doorframe carved into the window. The door was clear, just like the windows surrounding it, so it wasn't very obvious. The brass doorknob was what gave it away.

The door led right outside to a beautiful balcony. While Alice and Rosalie were putting my things into a dresser I stepped outside onto the balcony. It was now early morning and the cold, crisp air was already freezing my ears. I shivered.

"Want my jacket?" I jumped as my hand flew to my chest.

"Oh my-" I caught my breath when I realized it was just Edward. He smirked, and then started laughing at me from the other balcony.

"That wasn't funny!" I complained. His laughter ceased but he still had a (very attractive :]) crooked smirk on his face.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. In fact, I was kind of surprised to see you out here. Now, to answer my first question, do you want my coat?"

"Nah. I'm fine. Thanks."

"You sure? It's the end of January and all you have is a long sleeve shirt."

"Yes, well if I take your jacket then you will be left in the end of January with only a short sleeve t-shirt. Trust me I'm fine." He was far too polite.

"Alright…" He murmured. There was a few seconds of comfortable silence before he broke it. "Thanks for being so kind to Esme… about the house, I mean. She absolutely loves interior decorating and I think you just made her day." He said with a smile.

"She's so sweet. I couldn't imagine anyone _not _being nice to her." I said honestly.

"Yeah, she's amazing…" He sighed in agreement. "So, about you and Nick…" _Wow. Way to be random. _"Do you still like him as more than a friend?"

"I don't think so… but is there a reason why you're asking? This seems like the kind of question Alice and Rose would ask." He chuckled.

"I'm sorry. It's just… well Nick is still back at campus, and I'm guessing that since we're not there, he's going to be spending some more time with-" I cut him off.

"-Amy." He gave me a weird "how did you know that" look. I shrugged. "Last night while Alice and Rose were packing I went down to the café. They were both there and I sat down with them… they seemed _really _into each other." I said giving him a knowing look. "But Amy's not that bad. I kind of figured she would be as stuck up and bratty as Lauren, but she's not. In my opinion, she's just a follower. She doesn't even talk to Lauren that much. She just dresses like her and follows her around like a dog. But honestly, if she wasn't so afraid of Lauren I would think maybe we could be friends."

He laughed. "Okay, I do see where you're coming at, but _everyone _is afraid of Lauren. Even Emmett." He said chuckling slightly.

"Yeah, well I'm not." I said rolling my eyes.

"Yeah, we've noticed. And seeing how she has been avoiding you lately, I have a feeling that you are going to find out real soon why you _should _be afraid of her."

"Look. I am not, nor will I ever be, _afraid _of Lauren. Maybe I will despise her, but I won't be afraid of her. She is just a fake, plastic Barbie doll who wears too much make-up and not enough clothing. She is about as scary as a bunny rabbit. Now if you don't mind, I am going to go back inside and hang out with Jasper." I said, getting quite angry. I hated how everyone always told me I should be afraid of Lauren. It wasn't going to happen and having Edward be the one to tell me that I should practically bow down to her was not going to work for me.

"Why Jasper?!?" He asked incredulously. "Why not me? I mean, we're both already here. Don't tell me you like Jasper more than me…" He said with a puppy dog pout. It was pretty funny, but I was too angry to even smile. I would laugh about it later.

"Because all Emmett does is make fun of me, all Alice does is try to get me to go shopping, all Rosalie does is make me feel self conscious, and all you do is get me angry. Well, at least now you are… Jasper always calms me down. So I am going to go talk to Jasper. Do you have a problem with that?!?!" I said, still very angry.

Edward ignored the question. "Wait, why does Rosalie make you self conscious? That's ridiculous, Bella. She's the one with new competition at the school." He said with his signature smirk.

"She's got a boyfriend, and you have an attitude problem." I said narrowing my eyes into slits.

"My point exactly." He said ignoring the second part of the conversation. "She has a boyfriend. You have nothing to worry about." I turned and walk toward the door. Right before I turned the knob, he called out, "Especially when you're mad. You're so cute when you're mad."

I didn't even have to turn around to see the smirk that I was sure was sitting on his face at this very moment.

"Oh, shut up." And I slammed the door shut, gaining the attention of Alice and Rose who were sitting on the floor folding clothes. They gave me a confused look. "Please, do not ask." They were still confused, but nodded and went on with whatever they had been talking about. I just walked right through the door into the hallway. There were two doors on the right, the first one which was obviously Edwards's room, the second which also led to the back of the house. And there were three doors on the left side of the hallway.

I checked the first door on the left, right across from Edwards room, and saw a huge kind-sized bed with a flat screen tv opposite of it. There were two closets and two dressers, so I immediately recognized this as Carlisle and Esme's room. Not wanting to seem like I was intruding, I quickly closed the door. The second door on the left I found was only a closet. I checked the second door on the right, which was right next to Edward's room, and I found that it was Emmett's room. I opened the door to see Emmett sitting on an enormously large bean bag playing some video game. He turned and when he saw me a large grin appeared on his face.

"Hey Bella! Why don't you-" I cut him off by slamming the door. I was _not _in the mood for Emmett's jokes. I felt bad afterwards…

It wasn't his fault, it was Edward's , so I opened the door again and said "Sorry, Emmett, I was looking for Jasper."

"Oh. Well you could have just asked. No need to slam the door. He's right across the hall."

Of course the last door for me to check was Jasper's room. It was in the front of the house looking straight out to the long driveway. Jasper was sitting on his bed, watching a flat screen tv, which, like in Carlisle and Esme's room, had a flat screen. The room didn't look like something Jasper would choose, but then I remembered that this was probably a guest room, since Rosalie and Jasper didn't live here.

"Oh, hey Bella. What's up?" He said, looking up from the tv.

"I hope you don't mind. I just needed to talk to someone. Preferably you." I said with a smile.

He laughed. "Sure, I don't mind." He turned off the tv and looked at me.

"Is Tanya usually nice around this family? And Irina? Is she somewhat reasonable to you guys?" This just randomly popped into my head, but maybe Tanya and Irina would be somewhat reasonable around the Cullen's.

"Well, to Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, Edward and I, they're all nice. Carmen and Eleazer, the parents, and Kate, their sister, are nice to everyone, including Rose and Alice. Neither Tanya, nor Irina likes either of them though."

"How come?"

Jasper laughed a little before answering my question. "Well, as I'm sure Alice told you, they both like Edward… a lot. And Alice is quite protective of her brother, so when Tanya and Edward broke up, Alice was delighted, which made Tanya think that she was the reason they broke up. Alice doesn't think that neither Tanya, nor Irina were good enough for him. That's why Irina hates her."

"And Rosalie?"

"Well, they just find her as more competition. I mean, she isn't a sibling of Edward, so they find her as a threat."

"Yeah, but she's going out with Emmett."

"Yeah, but she went out with Edward."

I almost choked when he said this. "Rosalie? And Edward? When was this!?!?!?" He just chuckled.

"I know. It was weird. It was like 2 years ago or something. It didn't last too long. They realized that they were better off as friends. Just like I hear you and Nick are turning out. You guys just realized it before actually going out."

"How does everyone already know about that? I haven't even talked to Nick about it yet. I just figured because of Amy…"

"Yeah, well, Nick is Edwards's roommate, and there are no secrets with the Cullen's." He flashed me a grin.

"Oh joy." I said, heavy with sarcasm. He just laughed.

"Except for with you… you seem to have quite a few secrets, actually. Why is that? Not to be rude, or pry, but do you not trust us enough to tell us what happened?" He seemed a little upset. They were all getting the wrong impression.

"Is that what you all think? That I don't trust _you? _Because that is absolutely not the case. I'm just not ready. I promise, it will happen. I'm getting over it, so you will probably find out soon enough."

"Kay. Thanks."

"No problem. Thanks for talking to me. I needed to calm down. Edward was annoying me to no end." I said jokingly.

"Anytime. Let's go get breakfast."

Sure enough, I opened the door, and walked out quickly, excited by the delicious smell of pancakes… right into Edward.

"Hey, there. You really should watch where you're going Bella." He said with a smirk.

"Edward, I am in a _very _good mood right now, no thanks to you, and I am planning on keeping it that way at least until the Denali's arrive. Please don't ruin it." I said with a smile and then half ran, half skipped down to the pancakes. I heard Jasper and Edward both chuckling behind me.

…

"Esme, that was delicious!" I smiled at her. Her eyes lit up.

"Good! I'm glad you like it!!!" She smiled very brightly.

Edward leaned towards me and whispered "Thanks, she also loves cooking." I smiled again. I really loved this family. They were amazing.

The doorbell rang, and I groaned… along with Alice and Rose. Everyone else chuckled a bit as Esme got the door.

"Carmen! It's so great to see you! Oh, and Eleazer! Welcome!"

"Thank you for inviting us! The place looks fantastic! It's nice to see you all again!"

As Everyone was welcoming them, I noticed each face, before they could notice me. Carmen and Eleazer, who I had never met before, both looked very kind, along with Kate, who I had never had a real conversation with. And there was Irina, wearing something that only her, Tanya, or Lauren's group would wear. Next came Tanya, who was wearing something similar to Irina, but she was pulling someone inside. A guy. She finally had him in and I took in his features.

Very tall, muscular body, with tanned skin, and a head of black hair. Why was I not surprised. This was Tanya's "friend."

Jacob.

**Ooohhhhhhh. Uh oh! What's going to happen now?!?!?!? Review and you will find out quicker!!! Please please please! I'm absolutely begging you! Review ;] **

**Another long chapter by the way… I think I like these better… but you can tell me what you think! **

**Love, **

**Christine **


	16. Friends

**Okay, a few things before the chapter. One, you guys are **_**really **_**good guessers ;] A LOT of you guys knew it was going to be Jake. It was probably easy to guess, but I still found it pretty funny how more than half of the reviews were partially about Jake. Two, I want to thank all of my reviewers, but specifically Twilightgirlxoxo. She gave me a lot of fantastic ideas ;] And finally, three, a few people asked for faster updates (almost everyone asked to update soon, but some people requested faster updates in general). I'm really sorry if my updates are taking awhile. I am doing my best, but obviously, things happen. I also had a really big social studies project and everything… but I don't want to disappoint my readers, so I managed to get this chapter out asap :] Okay, enough babbling… you can read now!**

**Disclaimer: SM owns it alllllllllll…..**

Previously: Very tall, muscular body, with tanned skin, and a head of black hair. Why was I not surprised. This was Tanya's "friend."

Jacob.

Bella's POV

Tanya was introducing Jake to all of the Cullen's before any of them noticed me. He was like a trophy or something. "Hey Edward, guess what? Jacob is also captain of the football team. He could have chosen any girl out of the entire school but he chose _me. _Isn't that great?!?!" Her annoying nasally voice bragged.

Everyone had already greeted each other, without any of the Denali's … or Jacob… noticing me. Tanya was already ticking me off. She walks in here with my guy, and then shows him off to the guy that she obviously liked more, as if Jacob would make Edward jealous.

Edward excused himself for a moment, and he immediately walked over to me, looking uncomfortable, but luckily not attracting any attention towards me.

"Bella, I need your help."

"What could I possibly do for you?" I said, my eyes shooting daggers at Tanya, although she obviously didn't notice it.

"Okay, this is going to sound really weird. If you are uncomfortable you don't have to do it… but I noticed that you obviously don't like Tanya, and then if you did this you would help me _and _make Tanya jealous, so I was hoping –"

"Edward just spit It out!" I whisper-yelled at him.

"Will you be my girlfriend?" I stared at him with wide eyes, this was not what I had been expecting. Then he caught himself. "Not … my real girlfriend. A fake girlfriend. Just to keep Tanya and Irina off of me. And since you don't like either of them… and it will obviously make them extremely jealous, it's a win-win situation." He looked at me with uncomfortable, yet pleading eyes. He was afraid I would say no. _As if. _It would make Tanya _and _Jake jealous. I knew that if Jake could choose between me and Tanya he would choose me, so if I had a boyfriend _and _Tanya wanted that boyfriend, he would be a jealous maniac. This was _perfect. _

"But, of course." I said with a mischievous grin.

He grinned back, took my hand, and led me over to the two people that I wished I would never have to talk to again.

"Everybody, this is my girlfriend, Bella." Every single face there became shocked. Including the Cullen's. The first people to shake the shock off of their face were Carmen, Eleazer, and Kate. I didn't even look at Tanya or Jacob.

"…wait a minute. I know you. You're Bella Swan." Irina's equally nasally voice said. The shock was wiped off of the Cullen's face. Now they all realized what we were doing which led to grins on the kids faces and fake grins on Carlisle and Esme's face.

"Umm… yeah. I am." Was all I said. I now decided to look over at Tanya, purposely avoiding Jake, however, and she was shooting me daggers. "Oh, and I think I remember you… you're Tanya. And oh, aren't you Irina." I said putting on a fake show. Psh. As if I didn't know who _they _were.

Tanya gave me a fake smile, but it didn't fool _anyone _since she was still shooting daggers."Oh yeah… I think I saw you at Jake's house about two weeks ago. It was really a shame that you couldn't stay."

"What- Bella, what is she talking about?" Jake's deep voice asked.

Carlisle could sense the sudden tension. "Hey, I have a great idea. Let's all go sit in the living room, and we can all… catch up."

"Oh yes! I will go make more pancakes since I'm guessing you haven't eaten since your trip." Esme said.

"Oh, yes that would be lovely. Thank you dear." Carmen's sweet voice said.

We all went to the living room, where Carlisle took the rocking chair. Jasper sat in the other chair, with Alice on his lap. Carmen, Eleazer, Kate, and Rosalie sat on the couch, and Emmett sat on the arm of the couch, next to Rosalie. This left Edward, Tanya, Jake, and I with the loveseat. _Fantastic… _

Jake sat down, and Tanya quickly hopped on his lap, so then when Edward sat down that meant I had to… _Oh no. _

"Umm, I'm going to go see if Esme needs any help in the kitchen." I turned to leave, but Edward quickly stopped me.

"Oh, no. Apparently you have met Jake as well as Irina and Tanya… we would love to hear how." He smirked and patted his lap. _That player. _We were only pretending that we were boyfriend and girlfriend. And considering he and his girlfriend _just _broke up, I did _not _want to sit on his lap… especially with my ex sitting right next to me. But then I saw the smirk on Jake's face. He could tell that I didn't want to sit on Edward's lap… and that changed my mind completely.

"Alrighty then…" And I _skipped _over to Edward and sat down on his lap, but not before sneering in Tanya's direction. She was ticked… and I loved every minute of it.

"So… you guys went to school together?" Edward asked casually.

"Yeah… my dad and Bella's dad are best friends, actually. We know each other _real _well." Jake sneered towards me. Neither Emmett nor Jasper were too happy about this.

"Yeah, it's too bad." I said.

"Oh? And why is that?" Jake asked, obviously not too happy about my "relationship" with Edward.

"Because I liked you so much better when I didn't know you _real well_." I said. The atmosphere was _really _tense and all eyes were on us. Even Tanya didn't know what to say. Esme stopped moving around in the kitchen, obviously listening.

"Why? I didn't do anything… are you mad at me because I went on a small vacation with the Denali's? Is it so hard to believe that I made a friend that is a girl? Because that is all we are… me and Tanya are only friends."

Now Tanya was more than jealous at me… she was angry at Jacob. She hopped off of his lap. "You are such a liar!"

The room was silent.

"You know, for the first time… and probably the last time… I agree with Tanya. You, Jacob Black are a _liar._ _Friends _don't sit on each other's laps. _Friends _don't go on _family _vacations with other friends… they miss them while they're gone! And most of all… _friends _don't make out on a couch while one of those _friends _still had a girlfriend!!!!" I screamed. Everything was silent. You could practically hear everyone breathing in the room.

"Don't you mean… _has _a girlfriend?"

"What are you talking about Jake?" He was confusing me so bad.

"… Well technically, we're still going out."

"_What?"_ Tanya andI shrieked while Jasper, Emmett, and Edward all yelled.

This time Emmett spoke up. "Look, buddy, I don't know you too well… but if you really did all that stuff I have no clue why on earth you think Bella would still go out with you… besides… she is going out with _Edward." _I could see the smile twitch at his lips.

"Yeah, you'd better stay away from my… girlfriend. You and-"

Tanya, of all people, cut Edward off.

"I don't know who you think you are mister. You told me that you and Bella were over now that she came to this school."

"Yeah, and yet you call me all the time!" I added.

"Hey! Stop yelling at me everyone. I was only stating a fact. We never technically broke up. That's all I'm saying… but now we both have new… interests… so are we breaking up?" Jake said.

"OF COURSE WE'RE BREAKING UP! And I will never make the mistake of long distance relationships anymore." I yelled, and then stormed up the stairs to Alice's room where I was staying and walked immediately out to the balcony.

It was a few minutes of tears running down my face, before I realized that this was stupid. I mean, yes, Jake cheated on me, and yes I will never forget that… but before we went out, Jake and I were pretty good friends. Billy, Jake's dad, was over all the time watching games with Charlie, and sometime's Jake would tag along… or the opposite If they were watching the game at his house. We had some really great times, too. And I _missed _that.

I wasn't sure if Jake would ever want to be my friend again. I just completely made a jerk out of him in front of not only the Cullen's… but the Denali's, who were apparently important to him. But then again, I couldn't say he didn't deserve it… of course he did, but there was still a small part of me that felt bad.

I heard the door open behind me, and out walked Rosalie and Alice. "Hey, you mind if we talk? We were going to come up earlier, but we figured we would give you some time."

"Look, there is nothing to talk about. Before I switched schools I was going out with Jake, and I caught him cheating on me with none other than Tanya. He was the reason I woke up crying the first morning, and the reason I was in the woods last week. I know you're probably wondering why I couldn't tell you before… I'm sorry, but I don't even have an excuse. I just couldn't. It hurt too much. But now I look back and wonder why I couldn't… it seems pretty easy now." I laughed a little. "Hey, what do you know… maybe it was a _good _thing I saw Jake again. It's like a heavy burden has just been lifted, as corny as that sounds."

"It doesn't sound corny. It makes sense… you've been holding on to him, apparently you didn't even tell him that you knew he cheated, and that's good to get off of your chest. We're really proud that you stood up for yourself like that down there. And don't worry about not telling us earlier… you had a bad breakup, it's fine." Rosalie said.

A small smile appeared on my face. "Thanks guys. I'm just glad it's over… but then again, now I have to go back down and face them." I groaned. "You're parent's probably hate me."

"Actually, Carlisle found it quite funny… he hadn't been expecting that. And Esme is just glad nothing got broken. When Alice had her first bad fight with a boyfriend they broke 2 plates, a vase, and a window." Rosalie laughed. Alice just winked at me.

"And we don't have to go face them… yet. If you want, Esme gave me permission to get you out of the house for awhile, so guess what this means?!?! … Yup… SHOPPING!" Alice shrieked.

"Haha, you know, for the first time… ever, that sounds _amazing." _They both laughed, and we headed out into Alice's Porsche, but to my surprise, Kate Denali followed us. Then Alice pulled me aside "You don't mind if Kate comes, right?" She whispered.

"Umm, I don't really know her, but I guess it's not a problem."

"Oh Great! Don't worry, she's awesome! Nothing like her sisters." She winked.

"Then I am perfectly fine with it." I smiled. She chuckled a little, and we all hopped into the Porsche.

…

"What?! I agreed to shopping! Not this, too!" I complained. After about three straight hours of shopping for clothes I probably would never wear Alice, Rose, and Kate all insisted on the spa, too.

"Honestly Bella. For someone who hates shopping you would think that you would be a little more excited about getting massages and such after three hours of it." Kate said, chuckling. She really was sweet. If I didn't know better I would have never guessed that she was Tanya's and Irina's sister.

"I only agreed to shopping to get away from Jake." I argued.

"Okay, then I don't see the problem… this is just more time away." She said wiggling her eyebrows.

There was no way to get out of this. I had a small chance of getting out of anything with Alice and Rose… never mind Kate, too.

"Ughh." I groaned.

"I'm going to take that as a 'fine'." Kate said.

Then we all headed inside for another hour and a half of "fun."

…

I wasn't going to lie, this had been just what I needed. It completely calmed me down, and I felt great after. We were back in the bathroom, changing out of the robes, and into our clothes, however Alice had the 'great' idea of wearing some of our new clothes. I definitely didn't want to… "Okay, no offense Kate, but half of the clothes that you guys bought me were closer to things that Tanya would wear!" Kate just chuckled, obviously agreeing, rather than standing up for her sister.

"Exactly! Then when you go back to the house, Jake will see how hot you are, and he'll regret his huge mistake!" Alice chimed in.

I was in far too good of a mood to fight with Alice, and considering she would probably win anyway, I reluctantly agreed and she handed me some random pieces of cloth that I didn't even want to look at.

It wasn't _too _bad, but I had no clue what the point was. They gave me a pair of tight, _tight _skinny jeans, with a red, short sleeve cut off top with white polka dots, and, of course… red peep toe pumps – Rosalie's favorite thing on this planet. **(A.N. Shirt in Profile!) **

They each were also wearing Skinny Jeans and pumps, but they had different shirts to match whatever pumps they were wearing. Alice's color was a bright yellow, Kate's was a deep purple, and Rose's was a bright blue. We must have looked pretty funny next to each other, since we all had a short sleeve shirt, skinny jeans, and pumps. Nonetheless, we looked good, so we hopped back into the Porsche and headed home.

…

First person that approached me when I got home was, of course, Edward.

"Oh! Hey, Bella, you home! Thank god, I've really missed you." He said, nodding his head towards Tanya, indicating she has been an obvious pain while I was out.

"Aww, I missed you too." I said, laughing a little bit. Edward chuckled too.

Then he whispered "I know that this sounds ridiculous coming from your 'boyfriend' but Jake has been really upset since you left. He hasn't talked to anyone, except to thank Esme for the pancakes." He said. Uh-oh.

"Umm, I'm going to go talk to him. Be right back." He smiled as I walked away.

Jake was sitting there still on the loveseat… right where I left him, not talking to anyone, just staring at me with… guilt.

"Bella, we need to talk."

"Yeah. We do." I said as I sat down next to him.

"I'm sorry. I know that that doesn't cover a fraction of what I did to you, but I don't know what else to say. It was a huge mistake. I should have come to you first… but I see you're really happy with… Edward, so obviously you won't want me back." He said with a sheepish grin.

"You've got that right." I said, grinning back. You would think that after all of this I would be mad at him, but it was absolutely impossible.

"Yeah, I figured that much. However, no matter who we both go out with, I want you to know that I can't even believe what I did to you. And then I made myself look like a jerk in front of everyone… I'm not really a jerk, I just act before thinking… I hope you know that." He said, looking at me with pleading eyes.

"Of course I know you're not a jerk. However, you really do need to work on that whole thinking thing." I said grinning. He grinned back.

"I know it might take awhile, but I really think we should work on being friends. I need you in my life somehow…" He said, still holding my gaze.

"Unless you have some issue I don't know about, I don't see why it should take awhile. I have taken my time away to get over what happened, and after my day at the spa I can't find it in me to be mad at you. Of course we can be friends."

Then he leaned in and hugged me. "Thanks, Bella."

"No problem."

Right then Emmett walked in with a giant bowl of popcorn and a couple of DVD's. He was talking to Rose. "But it's such a good movie! Please Rose?" He was pleading with her.

"No! We are not watching Mean Girls! Emmett, what is it with you and chick-flicks?!?! First John Tucker Must Die, and now Mean Girls?!?!" Rosalie was yelling.

"Hey! Don't you dare make fun of John Tucker Must Die! That was a _good movie!!!_" I couldn't help but laugh at Emmett defending John Tucker Must Die. I turned my head and noticed Jake laughing, too. That must have been a funny sight for him to see for the first time.

"Hey, Bella! We missed movie last night because we were packing, so we're having it tonight!" Rosalie said. Right on cue, Alice and Jasper bounded down the stairs, and even Carlisle and Esme came in. Then, of course, all of our guests joined us, and Edward stole Jacob's seat on the loveseat, who went to sit on the floor with Tanya.

We finally decided on watching The Dark Knight, thanks to Carlisle and Eleazer, and let's just say… the rest of the night wasn't half bad… especially since I got to sit next to Edward ;]

…

The next day was filled with laughs, smiles, and a lot of great memories… and the occasional glare from Tanya and Irina, but luckily, no major drama.

All of the Denali's stuff was packed, and they were all getting into the cars, but right before Jacob had his chance I called him over to me. " Hey Jake."

"Wait a minute… don't tell me you changed your mind about getting back together?" He said with a joking grin.

"You wish."

"You're right, I do wish." He said with a wink.

"Yeah, Yeah, whatever. I was just hoping that I didn't mess up things with you and Tanya… did I?" I asked.

"Nah. She told me that she is just putting up the act for Edward. She thinks that he will get jealous of me, so he will start liking her once he thinks we're breaking up." He scoffed.

"And you're okay with that?!?! She's practically telling you that she likes him more than you!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know. But she knows that I would rather have you than her, so it all evens out." He said with a wink.

"Wow. That sounds like a promising relationship." I laughed.

"Hey, I know that you didn't call me over here to make fun of my relationship." He smiled. "Was there something in particular you did want?" He asked.

"I just wanted to make sure I didn't ruin your relationship with Tanya… and also, how are my parents? I'm not really talking to them right now… and I'm not planning on it anytime soon… so how are they?" I asked. He gave me a questioning look and I just said "please don't ask." He seemed to understand.

"They're great. They really miss you, but they don't tell me that… your dad told my dad, and I might have over heard." He said.

"Oh. Okay, then Thanks."

"No problem. Bye Bella."

"Bye Jake, I'll miss you. You can call me if you ever need to talk… as friends." I said with a grin.

"Friends." And then he walked back to Irina's car, hopping in the backseat with Tanya.

All of the Cullen's went back inside then, and Esme made us one last lunch. It was about 1:30 when we finished, and we all went back to re-pack our stuff. When everything was packed we all carried our suitcases downstairs (with the help of the guys :]) and said our goodbyes.

"Are you sure you have to leave?! Just stay for one more meal, please?" Esme begged.

"Sorry, mom, but we don't want to get home too late, we all have school tomorrow, and I don't know about them, but I haven't done my weekend homework." Alice said. We all grunted in agreement.

"Alright then, but please visit soon!"

All of the kids said their goodbyes and then it was my turn. "Thank you so much for having me. And I'm really sorry about my little… disruption with Jake."

"Oh, it was no problem at all. Please, please come back soon!" Carlisle said.

"Yeah, we all get into fights sometimes, don't worry about it. However, if you decide you want to make it up, come for a visit!" Esme said with a smile.

"Thank you so much. I will visit again." I promised. Then we all got into the cars, and with one last wave, we were off.

An hour and a half later, we were back at the dorms, and we got started on our homework. I only had math problems from the book and I had to read two chapters in Biology, which I finished quickly. It was only about six o'clock when I was done, so I decided to head down to the café. I walked in about the same time as Edward, who probably had the same homework as me.

"Hey."

"Hello girlfriend." He said with a smile.

"Nuh-uh. Not anymore. That was only while we were at your house which we are officially not at anymore." I said raising my eyebrows. "That was a onetime thing."

"But what if we happen to see the Denali's again? Would you be my girlfriend?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, don't get all cocky. That was _pretend… _And you might just have to find a real girlfriend for that one…" I said.

"Yeah, yeah. Pretend." He muttered. I wasn't actually hungry, I just came down to see who was there. Sure enough, Lauren's table was there, and they were all laughing and giggling while staring at me and whispering to each other. They obviously had something planned…

I also noticed at another table Nick was sitting with Amy, and they were making out… I figured….

"Told you." Edward said looking at the same place I was.

"But it's okay. I'm good with that. I kind of prepared myself for it." I said, while walking towards them. Nick broke the kiss when he heard us coming, and then looked at me sheepishly.

"I just-" He began.

"Don't worry about it." I said, first thing, along with a smile, to show him I was honestly okay with the whole thing. He looked relieved.

"So… how was Tanya?" He asked.

"Eh… we purposely didn't interact too much, so I can't say that she was that bad."

"Yeah, but you weren't the one that she was all over while you were out shopping." Edward pointed out.

"Ouch, dude that's bad." Nick said.

"You have no idea." Edward shuddered.

Soon everyone had joined us, and that was when I actually decided to eat… It was Chinese food, so I couldn't pass it up. :]

Then we all headed back to our dorms at about 7:30. I was honestly just planning on taking a long shower, and then going to bed. I was absolutely exhausted. Alice had the same plan, but she had to put away more clothes, so she told me that I could use the shower first, which I was grateful for.

But right when I walked into the bathroom, the first thing that caught my eye was bright pink letters written on the mirror that said "YOU DON'T BELONG HERE. GO BACK TO WASHINGTIN"

And I knew exactly who wrote it… after all, they spelled Washington wrong.

**Hahaha. So I guess you all probably know who wrote it ;] But either way, tell me who you think… also, my fingers are cramping from typing so much :] I did all of this in one day for you guys! (Plus all of the other things that I had to do today…) But I am warning you right now, the next update probably won't be until next weekend. School is unfortunately starting again :-p and that means dance and homework, too. But enjoy the extra chapter today! **

**Also, be expecting drama next chapter!!! REVIEW!!!**

**Love,**

**Christine**


	17. Truth or dare once again

**Okay, so for the last chapter, I only got 10 reviews. I usually get A LOT more and I was pretty upset. However, I know that at my house, on fanfiction, the first day that the last chapter came out AND the next day, they were doing some work on the website and I couldn't sign in or review or anything, so I'm HOPING that that was the case for the people that usually review…**

**Anyway, that was the reason why I haven't updated in awhile…**

**Thank you for everyone that did manage to review though! And although I'm not sure which readers these people are, thank you for everyone that tried to review. **

**Disclaimer: The amazing Twilight saga belongs to Stephenie Meyer. **

Previously: But right when I walked into the bathroom, the first thing that caught my eye was bright pink letters written on the mirror that said "YOU DON'T BELONG HERE. GO BACK TO WASHINGTIN"

And I knew exactly who wrote it… after all, they spelled Washington wrong.

Bella's POV 

I just sat in the bathroom staring at it for about five minutes. I didn't know what Lauren's problem was. I didn't try to "steal her throne" or anything. I still haven't even talked to Austin. And sure… maybe I was the reason that Edward and Jessica broke up… but I didn't do it on purpose, even if there was a piece of me that loved the fact that they broke up.

But still, it hadn't really been my fault that they broke up… Edward _chose _that. But Lauren, Jessica and all of their followers didn't understand that. However, _this _was stupid for revenge. Alice and Rosalie had warned me that it was going to be bad… but this wasn't that bad, it just meant I would have to wash the mirror again. No biggie. In fact, I had this funny feeling that this wasn't the worst part. After all, I had been warned over and over by my friends to be careful. And then I got this…

I decided that I didn't want Alice to see this since she would probably get mad, when there was really no reason for that. I started the shower, so it sounded like I was already in there, when instead; I took out a bottle of Windex and began washing the windows. Lauren had luckily used washable paint, so I didn't even have to really scrub and it came off. It was really easy, actually. It only took me about five minutes.

After that I got into the shower and tried to hurry up a bit more so that I didn't waste all the hot water for Alice. All I had left to do was wash my hair, so I took the clear bottle – which was supposed to be pink – and frowned. Strawberry shampoo was not blue.

But seeing right through the clear material, I could easily see the thick blue liquid. This was _not _my shampoo. And yet, the front of it said "Herbal Essences Sweet Strawberry Shampoo and Conditioner 2 in 1!"

But this definitely wasn't my shampoo. I sighed, realizing this was probably Laurens doing, and then chuckled, when I thought that she actually thought I would fall for this. It was probably a dye or something.

Sure enough, I poured a tiny bit on my arm to test, and sure enough, the hairs on my arm turned blue.

Wow. Very creative Lauren.

I put the "shampoo" back down, and borrowed Alice's vanilla shampoo. As soon as I was done, I hopped out of the shower and into pajamas. I threw my hair up into a pony tail, and threw away the blue dye, and then I walked out to see Alice and Jasper on Alice's bed looking lovingly into each other's eyes. I didn't want to ruin the moment, but I was still exhausted, and it was time for Alice's shower.

"Hey, Jasper, I thought you were supposed to be back in your dorm." I complained.

He looked at me sheepishly. "Sorry Bella. I just came to say goodnight." He gave Alice a quick kiss, then left the room.

"Aw, you chased him away!" Alice complained, but she was wearing a goofy grin on her face.

"Haha, sorry, but I am going to bed. Showers open, and I hope you don't mind, but I borrowed your shampoo." She looked at me curiously, and then shrugged as I hopped into bed. Soon, I was fast asleep.

…

Edward's POV

I wasn't in the mood for unpacking so I washed my face, and attempted to calm my always messy hair, then headed toward the café, where I figured Nick was. First person that I saw was Bella, who was standing at the doorway, seeing everyone that was here. She turned her head to look at me, and immediately greeted me. "Hey." She said, her brown eyes twinkling just a bit.

"Hello girlfriend." I smiled. I couldn't help myself.

""Nuh-uh. Not anymore. That was only while we were at your house which we are officially not at anymore." Her eyebrows rose. "That was a onetime thing."

Ouch. That was painful. "But what if we happen to see the Denali's again? Would you be my girlfriend?" I said, while my mouth twisted into a crooked smile.

She just rolled her eyes. This is what I really loved about her. If I had asked any other girl, besides Alice and Rosalie that question, they probably would have said yes immediately whether they had a boyfriend or not. That wasn't bragging, either, that was the honest truth. But not Bella. Bella was more difficult. She was a challenge. And I loved that about her.

""Whoa, whoa, whoa, don't get all cocky. That was _pretend… _And you might just have to find a real girlfriend for that one…" She pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah, pretend." I muttered to myself. I noticed Bella narrowing her eyes at someone, so I followed her gaze right to Lauren's table, who, for the first time in a long time, didn't notice me. They were all whispering, pointing, and laughing at Bella. They had something planned, and they weren't being very subtle about showing it. Bella quickly averted her eyes from their childish behavior, and I again followed her eyes right to Nick's table.

I immediately felt a little bit bad for Bella. Nick was sitting their making out with Amy. Nick and Bella had almost become girlfriend and boyfriend not even a week ago. Now, he was chasing after Amy. Don't get me wrong, Nick is my best friend, but he does move on from girlfriend to girlfriend quickly. However, my playful instincts took over and I slipped out "Told you." Without thinking. And then guilt hit me like a tidal wave. But Bella didn't seem to mind too much.

"But it's okay. I'm good with that. I kind of prepared myself for it." She said, and then began walking towards them. I followed her, and soon enough Nick realized we were coming, then broke away from his kiss, and looked sheepishly at Bella.

"I just-" he started to explain himself.

"Don't worry about it." Bella said, cutting him off, and flashing him a beautiful smile. We got into some stupid conversation about Tanya after that, then everyone else joined us, and we all ate Chinese food. I couldn't help but notice how uncomfortable Amy looked. Finally, at about 7:30 ish, Amy decided it was time for her to go, and we all decided that was a good idea, so Nick and I walked up to our dorm.

"Anything good happen while I was gone?" I asked Nick once our door was closed.

"Umm, did you completely miss me making out with Amy?!!? Dude, that definitely falls under the category of 'good.'" He said, chuckling. Then he froze. "Um, hey, do you know if Bella was really okay with that? I mean, we almost got together, and then I kind of blew her off for Amy. I mean, we never had official plans or anything, but I don't want her to hate me." Nick said.

"I talked to her at my parent's house about you. I kind of figured that you and Amy would get together… and so did she. To be honest, she felt like you guys were closer to friends than anything more." I watched as relief washed over his face.

"Oh thank god. That's exactly how I feel." He smiled. "So what about you, anything _good _happen over the weekend?" He said.

I thought back to my weekend. "Well, If you must know," I smirked, "I met Bella's ex boyfriend, who is still in love with her, but he is now going out with Tanya, who is still in love with me, and the whole time Bella's ex and Tanya thought that we were going out." I smiled.

Nick's eyes went wide. "What?!?!" He said, both confused, and surprised.

"Hah. Lemme break it down for you. Tanya loves me. Tanya goes out with Jake. Jake loves Bella. Jake Bella's ex. Jake and Tanya think me and Bella go out with each other." I slowly pronounced every syllable. I tell you, sometimes Nick was stupider then Emmett… well very rarely, but that's still saying something.

"No way! Why did you go out with Bella?!" Nick yelled. I just chuckled.

"It was only pretend. We did it so that Tanya and Irina would stay off of me, and Jake would get angry. It all worked out beautifully." I sighed.

"And while you were pretending to go out with Bella you realized how much you like her." Nick smirked.

Now it was my eyes that went wide. "What?!?!"

He laughed. "Face it dude, every time you say her name you smile, but when you said that it was all pretend your face dropped a little bit. You so like her." He laughed.

I thought about this. Me, liking Bella? Nah. Couldn't happen. I mean, sure she's beautiful, and her smile lights up my world, and I love how her brown eyes sparkle whenever she's excited… "Dude." My thoughts were interrupted by Nick. "This is what I'm talking about. You just completely went into your own little world thinking about her. You definitely like her." He smirked while grabbing his clothes to go into the shower.

He left me to think about that while I unpacked. _Did I like Bella? Was Nick being totally ridiculous? Probably the latter. Nick is always ridiculous. _I said to myself. This was the conclusion that I had come to. I didn't like Bella as anything more than a friend. And although I convinced myself of this… I kept thinking about her, and soon I wasn't so convinced.

Nick caught me staring blankly into space – obviously thinking of what he had said about Bella – as he walked out of the bathroom. He just smirked. "There's no point in denying it. I mean, let's face it, if _I _could see it on your face, then surely everyone else will be able to, including Bella. She is going to find out you like her soon enough, and I honestly suggest that you realize it before she does."

… As much as I hated to admit it, he had a point. If Nick, the same one who could be stupider than Emmett, seems to think that I'm beginning to like Bella, then there is no chance that the rest of my family – as well as the rest of the student body – wouldn't. Bella may even be able to, and even if she couldn't Rose and Alice would end up telling her. So I needed to figure this out.

I grabbed my things and headed for the bathroom. After taking a quick, yet soothing shower, I changed into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt and brushed my teeth. I was rinsing my toothbrush, when I saw my cell-phone flashing with a new text message. I flipped it open.

_Hey boo. Jess and I think you should come hang out with us for awhile. We really miss ya. So we on for tomorrow at like 5? _

_~Lauren333333333_

Okay, one, where did she come up with boo???? Two, what was up with all of the hearts at the end of her name, and three, didn't she have a boyfriend!??!?! Slightly pathetic if you ask me. As for Jessica… well that was even more pathetic since I broke up with her.

_Um, I have lacrosse. Besides, I'm not going out with either of you anymore, and Lauren has a boyfriend._

I pointed out. I considered signing it, but that would probably just make them more excited, so I just sent it like that.

Not even a minute later, and overly excited Lauren had sent…

_That's too bad. What about this weekend? We know you're not going out with us, and I have a boyfriend, but we could hang out just as friends. ;]_

_~Lauren333333333_

Just friends???? That wasn't going to work. At all. I knew that Lauren wasn't "just friends" with any guy.

_No thanks. Hanging with Nick, Bella, and the family. _

We didn't really have plans yet, but I knew that we would soon. I decided to ignore whatever she was going to say next. It had been a long weekend, so while Nick finished homework, I jumped into bed, and fell asleep.

Bella's POV

Ughh. The Monday after a road trip was always difficult. I could barely stay awake during most of my classes. By my last academic class, biology, my eyelids were drooping and Edward had to keep poking me to stay awake, which he found very amusing. Gym on the other hand, I was _wide _awake for, since we were playing basketball and I kept getting hit.

Despite that, there were also the angry glares from Lauren's table. Obviously mad that I didn't fall for their little trap. I ignored them and pretended like I didn't know that anything had happened. I had a better idea for revenge.

Now, I was sitting at my desk drinking an ice coffee, courtesy of Alice, and doing my homework. I wanted to finish early, since I was obviously going to need

"I'm kind of in the mood for pizza tonight… what do you say?" She said without looking up from her textbook.

"Alice you literally read my mind." I smiled to myself. I was on my last set of math equations, and then I would be done my homework.

"Hey Bella…" Alice called to me like she was about to beg for something. I gave her that 'what do you want' look, so she kept going. "Do you mind if I invite over Jazz?"She gave me an innocent smile. I groaned.

"Aliiiiceeeeee!" I complained. "All you two do is look at each other and make out." I said giving her a 'no offence' smile.

"That is so not true!! We talk to each other! And to you!!!" I laughed at this. She was pouting like a puppy. "Besides Bella, we haven't been together to much all weekend! It's not like we can look at each other too much _or _make out in front of my parents!!!" She begged.

"And yet, Rosalie and Emmett do!" I laughed literally out loud at this. Alice cracked a smile, too.

"Please Bella, you can have Edward over if you want!" She said.

_Umm, what?!?! _

"Why would I care if Edward comes?!?!" I almost screamed.

"Well, everyone else, including Nick now, has a significant other so you two would be perfect." Alice said as if it were nothing.

"Oh, I get it, you're saying me and Edward would be perfect since neither of us are going out with anyone." She just shrugged. "Well there are many girls in this school that would love to go out with Edward that aren't taken, and I'm sure I could probably find a single guy that would go out with me." I stated matter of factly. "It's not like we're the only two single human beings on the planet." I complained. Alice just rolled her eyes.

"You know that's not what I meant. I just mean you and Edward already see each other a ton, you're both single, oh, and did I mention how cute you two looked when you were pretending to go out!?! Adorable!!" She screeched.

"Alice stop trying to set me up with guys. Specifically your own brother… it's kind of weird." I made a face.

She sighed. "Fine. For now. But can I please have Jasper over????" She practically begged.

"Fine, then I get Rosalie over." I shot back.

"Oh yay! Thank you Bella! But just for the record, Rose will want Emmett, and then you'll be all alone again." She smirked.

"Then what about-" I started, but she cut me off.

"Lemme guess, Nick? He will just want Amy over, and then, let's face it, we'll have to invite over Edward... Now that I think about it, that's actually a great idea! I'll tell Jasper to invite them all over now!" She yelled, suddenly excited.

"Alice! No! It's a school night! If you are going to keep trying to set up me and Edward then I changed my mind, Jasper can't come." I said confidently. But of course, she crushed my confidence.

"Too late! I already sent it to Jasper and Rose!"

"Then I'll just text them back and say never mind!" I shot back.

"Are you kidding! You can't take back an invitation! That's horrible!" She yelled.

"Fine, but we're not inviting Edward or Nick." I said. "It's bad enough with Jasper and Emmett. Two more fully grown guys are going to eat all of our pizza!" I complained.

She glared at me slightly, but then sighed. "Uhh. Fine. You're so stubborn sometimes."

I just smiled at that. "I know."

Alice called for pizza, and I took out some sodas from the mini fridge. Soon enough, Jasper was here, and Rosalie arrived. Not too long after, Emmett appeared… with Edward.

Alice suddenly looked towards me beaming. "Alice!" I whisper-yelled. "Why Alice?" I asked, already knowing the answer, but not wanting to hear it.

"Oh, you know why! Besides it was perfect, Edward was already hanging out with Emmett anyway!" She whisper yelled back.

I almost growled at her. But I restrained. Barely. Only because Edward was right in the door and I didn't want to offend him. I did however glare at her. A lot.

"You are unbelievable." I muttered through my teeth.

"I know!" she said before laughing and going over to Jasper.

Soon the pizza came, and as I imagined, the boys ate _a ton _Rosalie, Alice and I ate about a quarter of a pizza each (about 2 slices), Jasper and Edward ate about half a pizza each, and Emmett ate an _entire pizza_ all by himself!!!

After we were done eating, Alice and I cleaned up, while Rosalie started flipping through magazines and the guys began talking about sports.

"Bella at least talk to him!" Alice scolded me when we were far enough away that they couldn't hear us.

"I do talk to him! Just like I talk to you or Emmett or Rose or Jasper. And I would appreciate it if you would stop telling me to do things. It's bad enough that he is here without my permission but you'd better stop trying to get us together. We are _only _friends. And that's how it's going to stay." I said stubbornly.

"You say that you're only friends, but don't forget that you kissed." She said with a smug grin on her face.

"Alice you know yourself that that didn't count. We were playing truth or dare!" I said exasperated.

"That's a great idea!" She gasped. "Hey everyone Bella just had a great idea! Let's play truth or dare!!!" She yelled to everyone.

Everyone cheered, but I groaned. "Alice you better watch yourself." I warned.

She just shrugged and skipped over to the circle where she plopped down next to Rosalie. I sat down in between Rosalie and Emmett, directly across from Edward.

"Okay, we're going to play a little bit differently this time." Rosalie said once we were all sitting. "Everyone is going to make up one Truth question and one dare question, and put them in the separate baskets. When it is your turn you can pick out of either the truth bowl or the dare bowl and you _have _to do whatever it says." She announced.

"That being said," I piped up, "Nothing can be overly personal or disturbing. If there is no second choice then we have to be at least somewhat comfortable with sharing." I announced. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. Then Alice passed out sticky notes and we all wrote down our Truths and Dares. Jasper was the first to pick one. He decided to play it safe, so he picked truth.

"Have you ever had a crush on a teacher?" He read aloud. He just smirked and said "Duh. Who hasn't?? It was like fourth grade anyway. He just laughed and muttered "That was simple." Under his breath.

That one really was simple. I wonder who made that one up…

Next Edward picked truth also. "What was the stupidest thing you've ever done on your free will?"He read. "That's simple. I let Emmett borrow some of my CD's for a party. Of course, before the party even started he either broke the CD's in half or scratched them so bad they wouldn't play." He glared at Emmett but Emmett just laughed.

"My turn!" Alice called out. She, of course, picked dare, and she groaned when she saw it. "Mwahahaha." She read in a bored tone. "I dare you to receive 3 dares from Emmett. You must do all three of them." She read. The guys burst into laughter, besides Emmett who just sat there and smiled like a three year old in a candy shop. Rosalie and I rolled our eyes, and Alice complained. "Emmett! That is so cheating!" Alice screeched.

"Hey, there is no rule against it," Emmett defended himself.

Alice looked to each of us for a loop hole, but as stupid as the dare was, it wasn't against the rules. Alice gave her most menacing glare before waiting for Emmett to say something.

"Alright, your choices are… one, I dare you to switch shirts with the person to your right (Edward) and wear it for the rest of the game. Two, burn your favorite piece of clothing, and three, run outside within an hour from now, so that it is still light out, and do the 'I'm a little teapot' dance _while _singing the song." Emmett grinned widely at his choices. Alice screeched and looked like she was about to cry… probably because of number two. I'm guessing she didn't really care about the other two.

"Objection!" I cried out, while everyone turned to me in surprise. "Look, I got another, yet supposedly more difficult dare when I felt like I couldn't do my truth. I feel that specifically that she has to do three dares in one, _and _the second one will probably kill her, I want to vote on a more challenging dare to give her." I said confidently. Alice looked at me with the biggest smile on her face, and Rosalie and Jasper immediately agreed. Edward agreed soon after.

Emmett on the other hand, of course yelled out something about being unfair and stupid, but we all ignored him. Alice was just yelling thank you the entire time.

Rose and I were to decide her dare. Turns out, that on these kinds of dares, the more challenging of most dares, the rule is that the girls get to choose the dares, because, let's face it, we're more reasonable. Even Emmett had agreed to this, because he knew that if he was ever in that position he did _not _by any means want Edward and Jasper to pick his dare.

Rose and I considered a few things before finally deciding. "Alright Alice." Rose began. "We have come up with your dare. You must let Emmett do your makeup… _and then _go walk around campus like that." Rosalie, Jasper, Edward, and I snickered, while Alice got a look of horror on her face. Emmett hooted and hollered at this once in a lifetime chance.

"Fine." Alice said. "But we have to let the game finish first… I say we only do one question for each person. So next is Bella, then Rosalie, and finally Emmett." She announced, trying to put of the makeover for as long as possible.

I sighed and reached my hand into the dare bucket. I was feeling confident… but as soon as I read the dare I was no longer so confident. "Wow. I wonder what would happen if one of the guys picked this." I said, glaring at the sticky note. "I officially hate this game. Every single time that I have a dare it includes me kissing someone." I muttered. Jasper smirked, but he must have been the one to write the dare, because everyone else's eyes went wide, and suddenly four people were yelling at me to read the dare.

I sighed. "I dare you to kiss…"

**Hehe. I know, you already hate me enough for not updating sooner, and now the cliffy… but I'm still a little bit upset about the lack of reviews. Like I said, I understand if it was because fan fiction wasn't working when you read it (because that happened to me), but I believe I told you before that when I get more reviews, I want to update more… and to be honest, I didn't have the energy to until recently. **

**Either way, nevermind my complaining, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW THIS TIME!!!! I honestly am shooting for at least twenty reviews this chapter (which is still less than usual), so please review and tell me who you think Bella is gonna half to kiss. And tell me what you thought about that itty bit of EDWARDS POV!!!!! Like what he found out about his feelinggggsssssss!!!!!!**

**Love,**

**Christine**


	18. Bold Moves and Friendly Dates

**I'm sorry :[ Really sorry. It seems to me like this has taken me WAY too long to update and I feel really really bad. :[ Sorry!**

**Haha thank you all of my reviewers (including anonymous reviewers!) I just read some of them before I began writing this, and they got me really excited :] You don't even understand how amazing you guys really are!! From an anonymous reviewer named Nicole, I found out that people are sending my story to each other, and I would just like to say, THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!!!! I feel so happy that more people are reading my story!!**

**(By the way NO ONE guessed Bella's dare right ;] hehe… did you guys **_**honestly **_**think that I was going to make it Edward?!?! A LOT of people said that, and to be honest, I am offended that you would think of me as such an unoriginal person!!! Haha just kidding… :]) **

**Disclaimer: I am not old enough to be out of college, I am not married, I do not have kids, and I don't have a mind that is interesting enough to think of something as amazing as the Twilight Series. Therefore, I am not Stephenie Meyer and I do not own Twilight or any characters!**

Previously: I sighed and reached my hand into the dare bucket. I was feeling confident… but as soon as I read the dare I was no longer so confident. "Wow. I wonder what would happen if one of the guys picked this." I said, glaring at the sticky note. "I officially hate this game. Every single time that I have a dare it includes me kissing someone." I muttered. Jasper smirked, but he must have been the one to write the dare, because everyone else's eyes went wide, and suddenly four people were yelling at me to read the dare.

I sighed. "I dare you to kiss…"

Bella's POV

Right as I was about to say the name Jasper actually started laughing a little bit. I glared at him. "You're one of the ones who tells me how dangerous Lauren is, and yet you give me _this _dare." I said.

Emmett snickered. "You dared her to kiss Lauren?!?!"

"No!" Jasper defended himself. Then he turned back to me and began smirking again. "I'm sorry Bella, but it's not like I knew that you were going to pick that dare." He said with his eyes up.

"Just tell us who it is already!!!!" Alice screeched.

"Fine. Geez." I muttered under my breath. Alice just rolled her eyes and urged me to go on. "It says 'I dare you to kiss Austin.'" Every single person in the room gasped… except for me and Jasper of course.

"Jasper! Lauren will murder her if she finds out!!!" Emmett yelled.

"Yeah. I object to this dare. Bella should get a second one!" Alice said, obviously defending me as I did for her earlier.

But I was the one who objected. "Guys, come on, it's not _that _bad." I rolled my eyes. "I had to kiss Edward when he was still going out with Jessica, and guess what, nothing happened!" I exclaimed.

"Oh, except for that itty bitty detail where Lauren, Jessica and their entire bobble-headed posse now hates you!" Rosalie said.

"That's because they think for some reason that I made Jessica and Edward break up. They didn't even find out about the kiss!" No one had anything to say after that. And so, just as Alice was going to do her dare later, they put mine on hold, and went on to let Rosalie have her chance.

She, also, picked dare, and began reading it. "I dare you to cut your hair!?!?!?!?!" She flipped out. "No way!! There is no chance whatsoever that I am cutting my hair!!!!!" She screeched. "Why isn't anyone objecting to this dare?" She asked specifically me and Alice. I sighed.

"Rosalie, I would object, but you told me last game that objections are supposed to be on very rare occasions when the dare is completely unfair. In this case, I think that it is fair, because you could just do this…" I said as I picked up scissors from the desk. I then took a single stand of her blonde locks and cut less than a centimeter off of it. "… and your dare is done." I said, smiling.

She smiled back, realizing that I was right, but what I was surprised at was that no one objected to the secondary version of the dare. Probably because everyone was afraid of Rosalie's wrath. I knew I was.

Emmett was the last one to go, and because he was too scared for a dare, he picked truth. "It says, if you woke up one day to find that you could turn yourself invisibly, what is the first thing you would do?"

I was kind of curious for his answer. Emmett has always been the practical joker of the group, so I could definitely see him using that to his advantage if it ever really did happen. Emmett looked thoughtful for a moment, before smiling widely. "I would probably mess with all of Eddie's hair supplies. His hair is already permanently messy, so it would be really funny to see it different colors and stuff." He said, beaming at Edward.

Edward growled at him, but I just laughed. As funny as it would be to see Edwards's hair all different colors, I wasn't laughing at that. I was laughing because this reminded me of Lauren and her stupid, no-brainer, prank. In fact, I didn't even see the point in trying to get her back. The prank was so stupid that there was really no point, since she would just get even angrier.

Besides, my dare to kiss Austin would probably do it anyway. Speaking of which, Emmett began working on Alice's make over, and when she was done, they were all, including Alice, coming with me to find Austin.

I watched in fascination as Emmett put a _lot _of make up on Alice. To be honest, the makeover wouldn't have looked too bad besides the fact that everything was dark, and the wrong shade. But Emmett knew where everything went, and even how to put it on. I laughed at this. Emmett has watched way too many chick flicks.

Alice was pouting the entire time, and by the time they were done she looked completely horrified. In fact, she was practically paralyzed looking at her own reflection. No one could snap her out of her trance, until, finally Jasper kissed her full on the lips, which resulted in Alice 'waking up' and Jasper with red lipstick smudged on his face.

He quickly cleaned that off, and then, along with everyone else, followed me out of the room. Rosalie was fighting with Jasper the entire way, saying something about how this was completely unfair, and Lauren was going to murder me. I actually just found this quite amusing. If by 'murder me' Rosalie meant she was going to attempt to dye my hair again, I definitely didn't care.

After searching the campus for awhile, Emmett suggested we checked the gym. Sure enough, Austin was there, training for football with one of his friends. Luckily, they were the only two people in the gym, since I didn't want too many people to see this. I began walking into the gym, but everyone else stayed at the door, just barely peeking in. None of them wanted to be seen by Austin, or his friend, however, they had to be sure that I did the dare.

I slowly stepped into the gym, however, as if I were on radar or something, both of the guy's heads immediately snapped in my direction. _Was I really that loud? _I thought to myself, wondering how they could have noticed me yet. I kept walking towards them, still slightly slower than usual.

The guys were whispering things to each other, and I knew for a fact they were about me. All I could catch was "-yeah for some reason she hates her." Coming from the dirty blonde, muscular quarterback.

"Probably because of her looks. Besides Rosalie, she is Lauren's number one competition… but then again, I heard she's not afraid of Lauren like Rosalie is." Austin's friend said. He was also very muscular, and quite attractive, but not my type whatsoever. He had dark brown hair, almost black, and it was longer than Edwards. It went to the bottom of his neck, along with Austin's.

I figured that he didn't realize that I was already within hearing distance, because I could clearly hear their entire conversation now, but I didn't think I was supposed to.

"Hi." I said, trying to be brave.

Austin's friend turned to me. "Well hello there. My name is Chris. This is Austin."

I tried to pretend like I didn't notice the supposedly seductiveness in his voice. However, I didn't want It to seem like I hated them either, considering I was about to kiss one of them.

"Hey. I'm Bella." I smiled.

"Yeah, we know. So what brings you here?" Austin replied with the same tone as Chris. I tried not to roll my eyes, and luckily succeeded.

"Oh, you know, I was just… stopping by." I said, winking at Austin. His eyes, along with Chris' grew wide, and they were even _wider _when I slowly moved in and placed a soft kiss on his lips. Then I backed away, looked at both Chris and Austin, smiled, and said "See you round boys." Then turned and walked back to the door. When I was close enough I heard Rosalie and Alice's quiet giggling, and Emmett and Jaspers low chuckling… but nothing from Edward. He didn't look like he liked that too much. In fact, he wanted to get back to his dorm almost immediately after I left the gym. It was fine with me, I was pretty tired. Rosalie and Emmett were going back to their dorms, too. Jasper, however, wanted to stay with Alice for awhile.

"Fine, but if that's the case, go to Jasper's room. I'm just going to check my emails, and then I'm going directly to bed." I said, and they agreed. As I walked back to my dorm, I couldn't help but think about that last kiss with Austin. Why was it that I felt no connection whatsoever with him, but there was unbelievable electricity between my kiss with Edward? It was the same case when I compared Edward's and Jakes. Absolutely nothing with Jake…

I didn't understand it, either, because Jake and Austin were both quite attractive. Edward, on the other hand, was more than attractive…

He was off the charts gorgeous. But I couldn't let anyone else know that I thought that besides me. Even Alice and Rosalie. _Especially _Alice and Rosalie, actually. They would make a big deal and try to get us together yet again. I groaned. They were _always _trying to get us together. They couldn't just be happy with me and Edward being friends. I didn't see why, either. It would be like a prince going out with a beggar.

Okay, so that was a bit extreme… but the point is, we were so _different. _He was completely beautiful… even for a guy. He was smart, and great at almost everything he did.

And then there was me.

I was boring, and plain, and nothing too interesting. I didn't understand how I was even friends with the Cullen's, nevertheless imagining going out with one of them, specifically for Edward.

I sighed, as I pushed open the door to my dorm. I quickly got ready for bed, before hopping in. I was exhausted. And to think tomorrow was only Tuesday!

…

"It won't come off!!!" Alice screeched. "Emmett put on way too much and now some of it won't come off!" She yelled. I realized she was probably talking about the makeup.

Still half-asleep, I peeked through my eyelids to find that I had been right. She was staring at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. I could see the smudges of black under her eyes and a _lot _of pink on her cheeks. The makeup looked worse this morning than it did yesterday!

She was rubbing her cheeks with makeup remover, but it didn't look much different.

"Maybe you should stop rubbing it so much. The rubbing is probably just making it all worse." I told her. She pouted, but stopped rubbing. Then she began to lightly wash under her eyes at the eyeliner that was smudged.

I rolled over, still not ready to wake up, and covered my head with my pillow.

"Bella, you need to get up! I already picked out your outfit for the day, but you still need to shower." Alice said, finally leaving the bathroom. At the edge of my bed, I noticed a pile of clothes, with ballet flats on top.

I groaned, but got out of bed, and headed for the bathroom. I turned on the water, and let it warm up before getting in. After a short 15 min. shower, I got back out, and examined the clothes Alice had chosen.

A pair of Arizona jeans were at the bottom of the pile, with a long sleeve, blue, v-neck Hollister shirt was on top. A white cami was in between the two, and a golden necklace was sitting inside one of the ballet flats. I quickly got ready, and dried my hair, before throwing it up in a ponytail. I decided to put on a little bit of makeup, for Alice's sake, and then exited the bathroom.

Neither Alice nor I felt in the mood to go down to the café, so instead we just made toast, and left for classes. English passed by quickly, and Government wasn't that bad. I noticed that Amy didn't give me glares anymore, and she also didn't really flirt with Jasper much, but she wasn't exactly nice either. Probably because one of the other bobble heads was sitting just two chairs away from her.

Trig and Spanish seemed to drone on forever, though. We didn't do anything that was even the slightest bit interesting, and both teachers seemed to be in a bad mood, so we couldn't talk to anyone.

After what seemed like forever, it was lunch time, and I met up with the rest of the group, besides Nick and Amy.

It was Jaspers idea to go to a Mexican place for lunch today, and they happened to have one right on campus. One really great plus side to this school is that they had everything you could imagine right on campus.

Okay, so that was a bit of an exaggeration… but basically, for a school, they had a lot.

I got a great burrito, while Emmett got two, and everyone else got something else, that I didn't know the name of. I noticed Chris there with some of his friends, but thankfully, I don't think he saw me. If he had, he probably would have started a conversation about what happened in the gym yesterday.

Luckily, news hadn't gotten around… yet. And I knew that if Chris or Austin saw me while they were with their friends, they would surely remember what happened, and spread the news.

I didn't really recognize Chris' friends, but they were also quite attractive. Was there something about boarding schools that attracted hot guys? Because to be perfectly honest, the majority of the guys in this school were hot. :]

However, still, none of them compared to a _certain _someone. Someone who happened to be sitting directly across from me at this very moment looking quite amused with his perfect crooked grin on, staring at me.

"Bella?" I heard someone call. But my eyes were still fixed on the features of Edward.

Then someone poked me, and snapped me back into reality. I jumped a little bit, before turning, and finding Alice, Jasper, and Edward looking at me, quite amused. Rosalie and Emmett however, were making out at the other end of the booth. Ew.

"I'm sorry, did I miss something?" I asked, hoping that no one noticed I had been staring at Edward. Alice and Edward shook it off as if I had only been daydreaming. Jasper, however, looked at me funny, smiled a little bit to himself, and then turned back to his food.

He looked to mischievous to be innocent.

I ignored that and paid attention to Alice. I had been rude enough to not be listening the first time.

"Alright, well Bella, I need you to help me and Rosalie today after school, okay?" She asked.

"Sure. Whatever you need."

"Yay!! Oh thank you, thank you, thank you Bella!" She screeched. Edward rolled his eyes and smiled, but I suddenly got very scared.

"Oh god. What did I just agree to?"

"Shopping!!!!" My eyes grew wide and Alices too. But mine were wide in surprise/fear (of Alice's shopping addiction) and hers were wide in excitement.

"Oh don't worry, Bella. It will be fun. And this time it's shopping for me and Rose, so you don't even need to try anything on." She reasoned.

"They why am I even going?" I challenged her.

"I told you already. You are going to help me and Rose. See the hospital's winter fundraising ball is coming up soon, and we need dresses! Therefore, you are going to tell us how fabulous we look in every one! And then, at the end of the trip, you are going to help us decide which one to get!" She screamed.

"Oh joy…" I said, my voice heavy with sarcasm. Edward snickered, and Jasper chuckled while shaking his head. Alice was beaming, and Emmett and Rosalie were still… well, you know.

I, however, was dreading tonight.

…

"Hey Bella," Edward greeted me at the beginning of biology.

"Hey yourself."

Then we both turned to the teacher, who was just beginning to announce that today we were watching a movie. Half the class groaned, while the other half cheered. To be honest, I didn't really care how we spent this class, seeing as I was dreading the end of it. After all, the end of biology meant PE, which is bad enough, and then to make it worse I was going shopping with Alice after.

The lights were turned off, and the TV was turned on, blaring some guys monotone voice, talking about mitosis or something. I wasn't paying attention at all. Apparently, neither was Edward. He was casually looking from his pencil, to me. I think he was trying to be discreet about looking at me, but I noticed him anyway. When I caught his gaze, he gave me a half smile, before picking up his pencil and quickly writing something in his amazing handwriting. Then he quietly slipped the paper over to me.

I moved my eyes downward to read it, without moving my head, so that it looked like I was watching the screen.

_I was wondering if maybe you might want to go to my parents ball with me? _

It read.

Edward wanted me to go to the hospitals fundraiser ball with him? He must have looked at my face, and seen the slight confusion, because he quickly stole back the paper, scribbled something else, and put it back.

He had added _just as friends. _To the end.

I internally slapped myself for even thinking that he wanted to go with me as anything more than friends. Edward was a jock. He goes after girls like Lauren, and Jessica. I needed to stop being attracted to guys, since they are either jerks, or nerds.

Alright, so that was major stereo-typing, but my point is that there is rarely a guy who you are interested in, that is interested in you back.

I smiled a _friendly _smile at Edward, before replying

_I would love to go with you, but to be honest, it's not a good idea for me to go._

He looked confused as he read it, and gave me a questioning look.

_For one, I can't dance. I would probably just be giving you blisters all night, and also, Tanya is going to be there._

Realization crossed his face before he scribbled down

_That's just more of a reason to go. She still thinks were boyfriend and girlfriend, you know. _

Darn. He got me there.

_If she found out we "broke up" All of that jealousy would be gone, and there wouldn't be a point in making it up for the first visit._

He added.

I rolled my eyes and nodded my head. _Yeah, I guess you're right. Sure I'll go with you. Alice will love the idea of me actually getting a dress tonight, anyway. _I said with a snicker.

He smiled, sent a note saying Thanks, and went on watching the biology movie.

Edward's POV

Bella was sitting next to me, pretending to watch the movie, while I reasoned with myself whether or not I should ask her to go to the ball with me. I didn't know if it would make stuff awkward between us… but I felt really weird going without a date. Then again, I have gone without a date all of the past years.

Finally, when Bella's eyes met mine, I knew I should just be a man and ask her. So I quietly slipped her a note asking, but when she read it, confusion crossed her features. She was probably wondering why on earth I was asking her… after all, she didn't know that I kind of liked her. _I _still fought with myself sometimes to whether or not I did. The side of me liking her usually won though.

So I took the note back and quickly added _As a friend_, since I didn't want to scare her away. Then she mentioned something about her bad dancing… and Tanya. I mentally slapped myself for not thinking of this earlier. But I came up with something quick, scribbled it down, and passed her the note.

Although I _did _end up getting Bella to say yes, I almost felt regretful about the whole thing. For one thing, she thought that I only wanted to be friends. Also, I had to trick her into going by saying something about making Tanya jealous. And it ticked me off that I couldn't get a date _even as a friend _without having to have another excuse about it.

Nonetheless, a "friendly" date that I got by tricking Bella into it was better than no date at all, so I just took what I could get, and was happy with it… well, I _tried _to be happy with it.

Bella's POV 

My ears were still ringing. I told Alice and Rose on the car ride to the mall that I was going with them to the ball. Well, technically I was going with Edward… but I would be there.

Luckily, Rose was driving, because although she was excited, she could control herself. Alice on the other hand, screamed so loudly that I thought the windshield was going to shatter. Some other drivers even gave us some weird looks.

Neither Rose or Alice would believe me that it was only a friendly date, even though that is what it was. Nonetheless, they were also excited about me getting ready with them, so they shrugged off the "friend" thing, and started chatting about what stores we were going to. I, on the other hand, blocked their talking out of my head, and instead focused on the radio. Five songs, three long commercials, and a lot of obnoxious background talking later, we arrived at the mall.

After about _four hours _of shopping for only three dresses and matching shoes, we finally had everything that we needed. My feet were absolutely _killing _me from walking around the mall so much, and I knew that Alice was going to be the one choosing my shoes for the ball in the end, so I told her to pick them out and not even show me them, since I figured they would probably make me want to cut off my already sore feet.

My dress however, was _gorgeous. _I loved every aspect of it. Rosalie and Alice's, too. Each of them were quite different, but they were equally beautiful. Mine, an orangey-pinkish color **(A.N: Sorry for my lack of descriptive colors :] ) **that was floor length and had a neckline that was a bit too low for my personal taste and a wide piece of the material wrapped below the bust like a belt, was (of course) picked out by Alice. Alice also picked out her own, which was a silvery-blue and white dress that was also floor length, but was longer in the back than the front, and it had a small set of jewels at the bust. Rosalie picked out her own, but it was also down right stunning. IT was a floor length red dress that was criss-crossed below the bust, where there were sequins, and left part of her back bare.

By the time we had gotten back to the campus it was earlier than I had expected – about 7:00 – and that is because we had left to go shopping immediately after school. The hardest part of the night was showering, because although the water was nice and soothed my back and shoulders, it didn't help my feet, and I had to stand up the entire time. So I quickly washed up, before getting out and hastily slipping on my tank top and soffe shorts for bed. Then I brushed my teeth and jumped into bed. Probably due to my extremely sore feet, I was asleep in seconds.

_We were in some room. It was pretty dark, however everyone seemed to be happy. There was a lot of dancing, and huge, long tables set up in isles, completely covered with food, almost as if it were a feast in harry potter. The only difference was that there was much more room at the front of the room, where people were dancing. The music was slow and boring, but everyone seemed to be having a good time. I was with Edward, but the rest of the Cullen's were dancing. To me, it was horrible. All gloomy, and boring. But then, things got interesting… not necessarily in a good way, though. Doors on both ends of the room, burst open, and coming from one side was Lauren, Tanya, Jessica, and Irina, and on the other side, it was Jacob, Austin, Chris, and Mike. Each of them had bright red eyes, and they were wearing dark cloaks. They walked the length of the room, before the girls took Edwards arm, and the guys took mine, and they began pulling us to the opposite doors. They were separating us. I wasn't sure why, but they seemed to have no problem whatsoever pulling us, despite our resistance. Even with the girls and Edward. I mean, sure, there were more of them, but they should have struggled a little bit, right? _

_The worst part was that the doors that I was going to led through the dancers, and as I screamed and yelled no one noticed. It was like no one could hear me. They were all still smiling and dancing to the boring music. I didn't recognize most of the faces, only the Cullen's, including Esme and Carlisle, and for some reason my own parents, Renee and Charlie. _

Seeing their faces was what really woke me up from that… story.

I wasn't sure whether to call it a nightmare, or just an extremely awkward dream. I hadn't really been scared, just confused. One, whats up with the red eyes and cloaks? Two, why couldn't anyone hear me? And three, why were they pulling me and Edward apart?

And I'm also wondering why on earth Newton was there. I was happy when I left him back at home with my parents.

Speaking of my parents, why were they there?

I sighed into the darkness. It was all so weird.

I decided to shrug it off and go back to sleep. And luckily, I made it through the night without anymore dreams.

**Eh. Kind of a bad place to leave it off. Sorry bout that. However, I **_**had **_**to get this out since I made you guys wait this long, and I'm too exhausted to write anymore. Tell me what you thought about Bellas dream. **

**And what did you think about the kiss with Austin?!?! I bet that was unexpected :] And another new character… Chris! Haha please review! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! *puppy dog pouts* **

**Love,**

**Christine**


	19. Getting ready with the girls

**Thanks so much, reviewers! Hehe a lot of you guys seemed to like the twist with Austin :] Also, something for all readers – don't look too closely at Bella's dream. It's really not as important as some people are making it seem in reviews… however it has a small connection with the story. That's all! Read!**

**Disclaimer: Stephenie still owns twilight!**

Previously: Speaking of my parents, why were they there?

I sighed into the darkness. It was all so weird.

I decided to shrug it off and go back to sleep. And luckily, I made it through the night without anymore dreams.

Bella's POV

I was exhausted the next day. I noticed that ever since I got to this school I have been _so tired. _It was really hard moving from the slow, small, rainy town of Forks, to this bright, fast-moving, campus. All of the drama didn't really help either. The entire day passed painfully slowly. The entire day, I was just begging for the end of the day. I don't think that I captured even the slightest bit of information in school, but I had already gone over most of the subjects in Forks, so I don't think I missed anything important. I didn't catch too much at lunch either. We had just gone to the cafeteria, and it was Italian food for lunch today. We watched _another _movie in biology, which got me kind of upset, because the darkness in the room made me even drowsier. Gym was the only thing that woke me up, and that's because it was volleyball, and Stanley and Mallory kept hitting me in the head with the volleyballs. They apologized profoundly whenever the teacher was near, but then just smirked and rolled their eyes when the teacher left again.

The volleyball didn't really hurt, considering neither one of them had enough strength to make it hit me hard… but nonetheless, it was annoying. The only thing that they didn't notice was that everyone was beginning to like them less and less. Including the guys. From the other side of the gym, they could see what was happening, and it was easy to see that it was kind of a turn-off for them when Jessica and Lauren kept purposely hitting me. That's the only reason I didn't try to get them back.

At the end of the class, Nick came up to me and asked if I was alright. I told him that I was perfectly fine, and it didn't even hurt. When he was sure I was okay, he went to get changed. I did the same, while staying away from the devils. The other girls seemed to be doing to same. Only a couple of girls who were in their clique stayed near them, but they all were acting differently. I smirked. Lauren and Jessica didn't even see what they were doing to themselves.

I got out of the locker room first, since Lauren and Jessica take forever. And guess who happened to be standing right outside the door?

Austin and Chris.

"Oh! Bella! We were waiting for you!" Chris blurted out, probably without thinking.

"Umm, okay…? What's up?" I was kind of curious as to what they wanted, since I barely knew them…

"We just wanted to make sure you were alright. Lauren and Jessica were being a little less-than-friendly during volleyball." Austin pointed out.

I gave a bitter laugh at that. "Yeah, I guess you could put it that way… but I'm fine, thanks."

"The guys also found it pretty great that you ignored them… although a catfight would have been great." Chris said, while snickering and pounding fists with Austin.

I rolled my eyes, and was about to retaliate, when the locker room door opened, and a sickening nasally voice said "Swan, did you not learn your lesson the first time?" I turned to see Lauren and Jessica walking towards us.

"Excuse me?"I asked.

"Oh, don't play dumb. I see what you're trying to do. First you broke up Jess and Eddie. Now you are trying to break up me and Austin. Well let's face it, there is no use. Austin wouldn't want to talk to you anyway."

I was about to tell her what actually happened, but Chris beat me to the punch. "Actually Lauren, _we_ went to talk to her."

Laurens eyes widened, and Jessica's probably did too, but I wasn't paying attention to her. Lauren turned towards Austin. "Why?!?" She screeched angrily through her teeth.

"Calm down Lauren. We were only checking to see if she was okay since _somebody _kept nailing her with volleyballs." Austin said.

Then she turned towards me. "Oops." She said, popping the p with her mouth.

I rolled my eyes. "You guys need to at least apologize to Bella. Physical pain is a new low…" Chris said. I realized by this that they usually limit themselves to emotional pain.

By now the entire gym class, and some students from other classes were there, watching us. I'm sure it was quite the sight.

"Apologize to Bella?!? I don't think so. If anything, Bella should apologize to me." _Umm, what?!?!_

"What on earth are you talking about Lauren? Why should Bella apologize to you? If you're talking about the kiss, just let it go already!" Austin said. I froze. She froze. Basically everyone around us froze.

It was silent for about ten seconds as Lauren sent me the most menacing stare she could muster. Didn't faze me at all.

"What. Kiss?" She said slowly. She was staring at me, but the question was directed to Austin.

When Austin didn't answer, she asked him, "I really hope that you don't mean you and Bella." She said, still glaring at me.

"W- Well, um, yeah… It was me and Bella. But it was only like a two sec-" He was cut off by Lauren launching herself at me, claws out, like she was actually going to claw my eyes out. Luckily, Chris was right there, and he held her back before she could reach me.

"Let go of me!" She screeched, but he didn't let her near me. Finally, when she was about to give up, he let go. Everyone who had been watching stood there, wide eyed. I'm sure I probably had the same expression.

"That's it Lauren! I don't know what has gotten into you, but you are absolutely ridiculous! I don't even want to go out with you anymore!" Austin said, breaking the silence.

"No, please Austin. This is only because of Bella, you know that I love you baby." She said with puckered lips, apparently trying to look attractive, and definitely NOT succeeding.

"Lauren, no. We're done." And then He and Chris began walking through the crowd to leave. The whole time she was practically begging him not to leave. Finally, when it was my turn to leave, I simply said "Pathetic." Before purposely bumping shoulders with her, and heading back to my dorm. She, of course, screeched on the top of her lungs and stamped her foot, while the crowd began to gossip and leave.

I sighed. All people in this school ever did was gossip. Most of it, since I was new, and not afraid of Lauren, was all pointed towards me. So I wasn't all that surprised when I got back to the dorm, and Alice and Rose started freaking out.

"I knew that was a horrible Idea! I told Jasper a million times that it was a terrible dare! I am so sorry Bella! I feel horrible!" Rose yelled, while Alice was screaming something along the lines of, "Oh my goodness, now you're really in for it! You broke up the most popular couple in school! Oh my god…"

I just sighed, dropped my bags on the floor and walked into the bathroom. When they realized that I really didn't care, they both stopped talking. I heard Alice flop on the bed, and Rosalie sat down in the desk chair.

About thirty seconds later, I heard Rosalie talking to someone on the phone.

"Yeah, of course I heard you moron. The whole school has heard! This whole thing is your fault! Poor Bella is going to be in HUGE trouble with Lauren, all because of your stupid dare." Rosalie's voice said.

I figured that she was talking to Jasper, and I immediately felt bad, so I walked back out, took the phone from Rosalie… which she wasn't too happy about, and said "Don't listen to her Jasper. I am fine and I'm not afraid of Lauren."

He still felt guilty "Well that's a relief, but I am truly sorry. I was hoping that Lauren just wouldn't find out… "

"Yeah, well, I figured that she would at some point, and I still did the dare, so it's fine. I really can't see how Lauren could do anything to affect me anyway. In fact, this entire thing happened because they _tried _to annoy me by hitting me with multiple volleyballs during gym, and it only resulted in everyone feeling bad for me and hating them." I laughed, and I could hear Jasper chuckle on the other end as well.

"Alright, well I got to go. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye Jasper."

"Bye." I hung up the phone and turned back to my friends.

"So that's how this whole thing happened? Because of them annoying you at gym?" Alice asked.

"Pretty much. When I came out of the gym locker room Chris and Austin had been waiting to apologize for Laurens behavior, even though it wasn't their fault at all. Then when Lauren and Jessica came out they saw us talking and made a huge deal about it, which resulted in her finding out about the kiss, and Austin breaking up with her. I don't think she even knows that by trying to get on my nerves she is destroying her popularity."

"Yeah… when Lauren gets mad all she can think about is getting back. She never thinks about the consequences. Never. I remember back when she hated me as much as she hates you she tried to put mice in my dorm. Of course, no pets are allowed on campus, and the only animals here were in the science lab, so when she tried stealing them, she was caught and got detention for two weeks." Rosalie giggled.

"But don't let that make you feel like she's always going to destroy herself and get in trouble. We really weren't joking when we said she can be devious. She doesn't always get caught. You need to be more careful." Alice warned me. In my head I giggled at this. They were so serious about this whole thing. It was actually really sweet since I knew they just didn't want me to get hurt.

"Thanks, but don't worry, I'll be fine." I reassured her.

She just sighed, obviously not believing me, before pulling out a bottle of red nail polish and painting her toes.

The rest of the day was pretty chill like that. We didn't see the guys at all that night, but Rosalie stayed late. They insisted on painting my fingernails, but I really didn't see the point since they were planning on taking me to get a manicure later that week to get ready for the ball. Nonetheless, they painted my fingers a dark purple-y color. It was a gorgeous color.

Rose painted hers the same red as Alice's toes, and Alice, who ended up painting both her nails and toenails, painted hers a hot pink. All of them were really pretty. But by the end of it, I was completely wiped out and ready for bed.

…

The rest of the week pretty much went the same way. It was actually a lot of girl time. We only really saw the guys in school, and during meals.

According to Alice, we weren't allowed to see them at all today, either. Today was Saturday, the day of the ball. Alice had given each guy strict instructions on how they should look, but even she wanted to be surprised, so she never checked up on them even once.

We had already gotten our nails (re)done. Each of us just had simple, yet gorgeous French manicures. The lady who did it was far too rough though. It hurt a lot…

It turned out beautifully, though, and in Rose and Alice's eyes, beauty is worth the pain.

Alice had been planning on doing our makeup, but when we got to the hair salon and Alice saw that if you got your hair styled, a makeover came with it, half off. So of course, Alice couldn't resist, and we each got make over's.

Now we were each getting our hair done. Alice, since her hair is so short, had her hair curled to frame her face. Rose and I, however, both had our hair up in delicate curls. Rose's hair was all on top of her head; however, mine was half up, half down.

Next we drove to Andalus **(A.N: btw, for anyone who couldn't tell, I completely made this city up)**, which was a large city that was located between Carlisle and Esme's house, and the campus. This was where the ball was going to be held. There was supposedly a huge ballroom.

Rosalie and Alice had informed me that all of us – including Carlisle and Esme – were staying at a hotel. We probably didn't have to since it was only an hour away from campus and Carlisle and Esme's house, but I guess when you are as rich as the Cullen's, you just did what was convenient. In this case, that meant staying at a hotel. Carlisle and Esme were sharing a suite. Jasper, Emmett, and Edward were sharing a suite, and Alice, Rose, and I were sharing a suite.

Alice warned me beforehand not to complain about the money. She said that Carlisle and Esme get offended when someone refuses an offer such as this, especially when it has to do with money.

We drove to the hotel first, where we would be getting ready, and getting in the limo.

Yes, limo. I swear it felt more like high school prom rather than a ball.

We arrived at the _huge _hotel with plenty of time to get ready. Since our hair, makeup, and nails were already done, we only needed to get dressed.

We were all set and ready in record time. Everyone looked gorgeous. Alice's dress brought out her bright blue eyes, and Rose's scarlet dress looked amazing with the long blonde hair. According to Alice and Rose, I looked great too, but I knew I wouldn't feel too comfortable walking next to the gorgeous Cullen's… I just didn't fit in. **(A.N: Dresses on Profile!)**

After strapping on our heels, we went down to the lobby to meet our dates. The elevator doors opened up, and people around us (mostly men) kept staring at us. It was kind of weird. We looked for the guys, and finally spotted them near the doors. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Edward… of course, then I sped up quickly, hoping no one noticed my staring.

He was drop dead gorgeous. The black tux contrasted his pale skin, and made his green eyes even brighter. HE was wearing a simple black tie with his tux, because he refused to wear pink, even though it matched my dress. Alice finally settled with letting him wear plain black and white. Emmett had a red tie, and Jasper had a blue tie. They looked great. But still, they didn't compare to Edward. Not at all.

Alice nudged me before whispering "Take a picture, it will last longer." Before winking at me.

She caught me staring.

I blushed, and walked up to Edward, who was holding a corsage in his hand. _Yup, just like prom. _

It was a delicate pink rose that matched my dress, surrounded by baby's breath. It was simple, yet stunning. After putting on each of our corsages, we headed towards the limo. I had asked them where Carlisle and Esme were, and found out that they were going straight from their house to the ball.

The limo was great… I had never been in one before. There was a small TV, but we never watched it. There were also wine glasses and a spot where I supposed the bottle was supposed to be, but when Emmett asked where it was, the driver said "I have strict orders from a certain Carlisle Cullen that there would be no alcohol in the limousine."

I laughed at that. Carlisle knew Emmett would want to try it.

There were also a bunch of buttons that controlled the lights, and windows, and the seats could move, too. It was really great. I was enjoying it so much, that I hadn't even noticed when the car stopped. But everyone started filing out, and then Edward took my hand since we had to walk in together.

We had arrived.

**I'm really sorry everyone… this chapter was a lot shorter than the past few. I promise, I'm still going to be doing longer chapters, however, I wanted the ball to be it's own chapter. **

**So next chapter is going to be the ball! Please review and tell me what you want to happen! **

**Oh, and check out Bella, Rosalie, and Alice's dresses on my profile!**

**Love,**

**Christine**


	20. The Ball

**So today I was watching a show, and one of the lines in it was "When a story is getting dull, add some conflict!" sooo… that's what I'm going to do!**

**Enjoy! :]**

**Disclaimer: Twilight has never been mine. I think I've made that pretty clear. **

Previously: But everyone started filing out, and then Edward took my hand since we had to walk in together.

We had arrived.

Bella's POV

The ballroom was _huge. _The ceilings were painted beautifully like at the top of an art museum. The floors were a shiny white tile, and the walls were a maroon color. There were already at least 200 people here. Edward told me more were coming, too.

Immediately Emmett dragged Rosalie to the food, and Alice dragged Jasper to the dance floor. Edward and I just kind of stood there awkwardly. Neither of us knew exactly how this would pan out, since we weren't in a relationship. Interrupting the awkward moment, in walked the Denali's. Carmen and Eleazer were both wearing a deep purple color, while all three Denali girls were wearing stunning golden dresses. Not a single one of them had a date, either.

I had kind of been expecting Jake to be coming with Tanya, but here she was, all by herself. Edward and I greeted the parents, and we told them that Carlisle and Esme were on their way. Then as Edward tried his best to be polite to Tanya and Irina who were all over him, I decided to talk to Kate.

"Hey Kate! How are you?"

"Bella!!!" She squealed, reminding me of Alice. "I'm great, how are you?" She asked. But before she even let me answer she said, "So I see you and Edward are still going strong."

This reminded me that all of the Denali's believed we were going out. Tanya and Irina, on the other hand, must have forgotten this, since they were practically on top of Edward.

"Umm, yeah. Do Tanya and Irina know that were still… together?" I asked awkwardly.

"Probably. But no offence, they don't care. They only care about Edward… not who he's dating."

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense. So what about you? Do you have a boyfriend?" I asked.

Her eyes clouded over a bit as I said that, and she looked as if she were thinking about someone who she really cares about. Right as I was about to say 'I'll take that as a yes' she answered "No."

I'm sure that I probably looked confused, because she quickly added, "Not yet anyway." With a smile that lit up her face. Now I got excited and probably sounded a lot like Alice when I said, "Spill!"

"Okay," She started, "His name is Jared. He lives down on the reservation near Jacob Black. I met him because of Jake and Tanya. He's extremely cute, and tan… oh! And strong! And he's really sweet, too. He's perfect. And I think he might like me too!" She said, beaming.

"Oh Kate, that's great! I'm so excited for you! Speaking of Jake, are him and Tanya still together?" I asked, curiously.

"Nah. The same day that I met Jared Jake broke up with her. She didn't even care. That just goes to show how she didn't even like him that much. I'm kind of glad they're over, though. Jake deserves better than her. He is really sweet… and it's not that Tanya isn't … but she's not right for him." Kate said, trying not to be cruel to her sister.

"I know what you're saying. I haven't talked to Jake in awhile. I should probably call him and see how he is soon." As I said this I made a mental note to do so.

Kate headed off to see Alice and Jasper, and I decided this was my cue to save Edward from the two bobble heads that were _still _hanging off of him. Carlisle and Esme walked in right then, so I decided to use them to get Tanya and Irina off of him.

"Hey Edward, Carlisle and Esme just got here!" I said.

"Oh!" Edward said, taking his sole opportunity to jumps out of the girls grasps. I snickered at their faces when he did that. They looked like two little kids that just had their candy taken away from them.

"Carlisle! Esme! It's so great to see you again!" I said.

"Oh Bella!" Esme said as she enveloped me in a hug.

"Hello Bella. You look well. It's nice to see you again." Carlisle said while giving me a short hug. Edward, Carlisle and Esme began talking about who knows what… so I headed off to inform Alice and Jasper that they were here. Once Alice and Jasper headed towards Carlisle and Esme, I started towards the food where Emmett and Rose were.

I was about halfway there when I was stopped by Tanya and Irina. They were both holding a cup filled with bright red punch, and I already didn't feel safe near them.

"Oh Bella. I haven't seen you in a while." Tanya said with a sneer.

"Actually, believe it or not, I was standing directly next to you while you and Irina were practically on top of my boyfriend." I glared. Weirdly enough, it was pretty easy to tell them Edward was my boyfriend, even though he wasn't.

"Oh, wait a minute, you and Edward are still going out? Well I'm not sure how long that's going to last then, seeing as Edward told me how _amazing _I looked tonight." She said with an evil smile. For a moment I actually believed that he said that, and I felt… jealous? Yeah, I believe it was jealousy. At least I could admit it. But Tanya's jealousy just led to this lying.

I knew for a fact when Irina added "Well, yeah. He said it about me too." She said stupidly. I actually scoffed out loud at this, receiving dirty looks from the both of them.

"Look Swan, back at the Cullen's house I couldn't flirt with Edward, because I had Jacob with me. But now Jacob and I are over so-" She started.

I cut her off. "Oh yeah, I heard Jacob broke up with you. Ouch. I guess you just weren't good enough for him. And you can _try _to flirt with Edward as much as you want. But don't you forget that he. Likes. Me. Not. You." I pronounced every word carefully.

"Well we'll just see who he likes once your dress is ruined!" She yelled while lifting her punch cup above my head. But before she could tip it over, a large, strong hand stopped her wrist and took the cup from her. I recognized the hand as Emmett's. Just as Emmett removed the cup from her hand, Rosalie stepped in front of me and said "Oh no you don't! That dress costs more than all of your plastic surgeries put together! So if you dare touch that dress I promise I will screw up your precious little face!" She spat.

Rose turned around angrily, and I could see Tanya and Irina's faces, and both of them were scared out of their mind.

"See this is why I do not understand why _you _are afraid of Lauren." I laughed.

"Eh. You'll find out sooner or later." She sighed.

"Thanks guys. I know that wouldn't have been pretty if she had actually spilled it. But I was looking for you guys anyway. I meant to tell you that Carlisle and Esme are here." I said.

"Yeah we saw them from across the room, that's where we were headed when we saw you." Emmett said.

"Alright, well I'll let you get to that." I said, and they walked away.

I hadn't really realized how hungry I was until I looked over at the table filled with mouth watering desserts. I took one bite of the triple fudge brownies and I was immediately in heaven. "Mmm." I sighed to myself. Best. Brownies. Ever.

I was just finishing my second, when someone tapped me on the shoulder. Emmett.

"Why hello there my lady. Would you care to dance?" He said in a horribly fake british accent. I giggled at this, and then laughed even harder when I pictured myself stepping on Emmett's feet multiple times.

"Emmett, you know that I can't dance." I laughed. "Besides, where is Rosalie?" I asked. I knew that Rose wouldn't mind dancing with him. She had the coordination.

"Rose is dancing with Carlisle. In case you didn't know, everyone in our family dances one dance with each other at these balls. It's kind of like a tradition I guess." He said.

I thought about this. "Really? I think I would just love to see you and Edward dancing together." I said, trying my best to look serious.

"Ha ha. Very funny." He said rolling his eyes while I giggled.

"Well either way, how do I fit into this? I'm no part of this family." I said.

He thought about this. "Oh yes you are. How many times do we have to explain it to you Bells? You practically _are _one of us." He said.

I just scoffed. "Psh. 'one of us'" I quoted. "You make it sound like you guys are some weird creatures."

"Well who says we're not?" He shot back with a joking smile. "Seriously Bells, please? One dance?" He put on his puppy dog face.

I sighed. "Fine. But you are the one who is going to be wishing that they never did this once we're through." I said. I truthfully couldn't resist the puppy dog face. Well… not on Emmett anyway.

Four minutes and one song later, Emmett was sitting down, rubbing his feet, while I was in a fit of giggles. "I… told you… so!" I said in between laughs.

Next thing I knew, Jasper was in front of me, asking for a dance also. "Did you learn nothing?" I just said, still laughing.

"Yeah, well, I don't really have a choice Bella. It's the tradition." He laughed. I didn't want to, but I still got up and danced to one song with Jasper. By the end of it I could tell that he was in pain, but he was trying really hard not to show it. The last thing I saw was Alice comforting him, before Carlisle wanted a turn.

I looked at him like he was crazy. "Are you kidding? Did you not just see what I did to poor Emmett and Jasper? Never mind the tradition… I think it would be better for your family's health if I just sat this one out… and the next one." I said with a smile.

"Oh no. That wouldn't be very fair to Emmett and Jasper if they had to get swollen feet, but Edward and I didn't." He joked. I laughed at this, but I was unsure about it. I truly didn't know Carlisle as well as Emmett and Jasper, and I would feel absolutely _terrible _if I really hurt him.

"Are you sure Carlisle? I don't know if I can handle injuring all of you guys."

"I'm positive. Don't give it a second thought. Let's go!" He said motioning towards the dance floor. As I was dancing with Carlisle I was trying _extremely _hard not to hurt him. And, I am very proud to say that I only stepped on his feet twice, and they were different feet, so it didn't hurt him too bad! By the end of it, Carlisle smirked at Jasper and Emmett, saying something about, "It's all in the leading."

Next Edward was up. Well, he asked. But I needed a break, so I told him I was going to get some water first… and he came with me. Right as I picked up a cup, a familiar nasally voice came up from behind me.

"Hey Edward! I was wondering if you wanted to dance?" Tanya asked.

"No that's what I was wondering!" An equally nasally voice said. Irina.

Those two began bickering, which I found funny since I was sure Edward wouldn't dance with either of them. Sure enough, Edward interrupted them both by saying "I'm sorry, but I already have a date for tonight." Before turning his back to them.

I soon enough finished my water, and then Edward led me to the dance floor. As soon as we began dancing, I figured that I wouldn't be stepping on anymore feet, as long as I was dancing with Edward. Carlisle had been right, it is all about the leading… and Edward was great at it! It didn't even feel like I was touching the ground. It seemed more like Edward was holding me right above the ground… but I couldn't be sure. Edward didn't _look _like he was trying to hold up any extra weight… but I sure felt like he was.

Only about a minute and a half into the song, my cell phone rang. Rosalie had me put my cell phone inside of my bra because there was no where else in the dress to put it. So let's just say it was awkward to say the least when my chest started vibrating, and I had to reach down my shirt in front of the gorgeous Edward Cullen just to get it. I probably wouldn't have even answered it, except that the Caller ID said "Mom."

I hadn't talked to my mom in over a month. And the last time I did it hadn't been pretty. Infact the last words I had said to her were "I hate you."

_Flashback_

_He scoffed. "Love? You think you love this boy? You don't even know what love is!" Now, I was way past mad. I was furious. _

"_Oh, and you do? Maybe if you knew what love was, you and mom wouldn't be fighting all the time! Maybe if you knew what love was, you would love me enough to realize this is the worst thing that had ever happened to me, and you are the cause of it! Right now, I'm feeling the opposite of love towards you. Right now I feel hatred. Hatred for making me leave behind the great life of mine. All of my friends, and my amazing boyfriend. If you loved me, you wouldn't make me do this. But you don't love me. You hate me! Just like I HATE YOU!" As soon as I said this, I grabbed my suitcase, ran out of the house towards my truck, and started driving towards Jacobs._

Yeah, not a good time.

Anyway, when I saw the Caller ID I figured it was important, so I excused myself from the dance, and began walking towards a side door in the ballroom. Outside was lit up with gorgeous Christmas lights, and since it is February, it was no surprise that it was snowing out. Therefore, when Edward saw me headed outside, he followed me while taking off the jacket to his tux.

"Hello?" I said as I picked up the phone.

"Bella?" My mom's voice cracked. She was crying, I could tell.

"Mom, it's me. What's wrong? Are you okay?" I asked.

She was sobbing so hard I could barely understand what she was saying. But I understood enough.

"It's… its your, your father… Charlie."

**Duh Duh Duhhh. Cliffhanger! Yay, I just love those :] **

**This was another chapter that wasn't super long… but it wasn't too bad. I think the chapters are going to be pretty inconsistent lengths from now on. I will just stop the chapter at a good spot. Anyway, Hope everyone (In the US) had a great Memorial Day! I will try to update faster, but it's the end of the school year, and I think it's safe to say **_**everyones **_**busy.**

**But not too busy to review! Please? Pretty please with a cherry on top? **

**What if I told you that I would NOT update unless I got AT LEAST 30 reviews? Hmm? **

**Thanks!**

**Love,**

**Christine **


	21. A new feeling

**So, funny story… it is REALLY rainy where I live, and on rainy days I'm always inside either watching TV or on my laptop (usually just on the internet). However, today, my cable went out, so there was no TV, internet, or land line phone service! Basically, I had nothing to do so I decided to update :] So you guys can all thank my cable provider for this update. Haha. **

**Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer!!!**

Previously: "Bella?" My mom's voice cracked. She was crying, I could tell.

"Mom, it's me. What's wrong? Are you okay?" I asked.

She was sobbing so hard I could barely understand what she was saying. But I understood enough.

"It's… it's your, your father… Charlie."

Bella's POV

I froze. Charlie. Something was wrong with Charlie. Something bad.

I'm sure I probably looked horrified, because Edward came rushing over.

"Bella, are you alright? What happened? Bella…?"

I gave him the signal to be quiet for a moment. "Mom where are you?"

"In… in the Forks hospital…" She sobbed.

"Alright Mom. It's okay. I'm coming." And then I hung up the phone. Now Edward really flipped out.

"Coming where? Bella what are you talking about? Where are you going?" He asked quickly.

"Look, Edward, I have to go. My family needs me." I said. I was already in tears, even though I wasn't sure exactly what was wrong.

Edward tried to ask for more of an explanation but I cut him off. "Edward I need to leave now. I don't know how long it will take me to get to Forks, but I need to get there as soon as possible. I'll call you when I get there."

I started walking away, but he caught my arm. "I'm coming with you." He said. I stared into his eyes, which were piercing into mine. Tears were streaming down my face, but I could see it in his eyes. He had made a decision. He was going to come whether I wanted him to or not.

"Fine. Let's go." We ran back through the doors into the ballroom since we had been in the back. We ran right through the crowd to the doors across the room. Each one of the Cullen's, along with the Denali's and some other people I didn't know, stared at us in confusion, but we didn't stop to explain anything. Edward knew this was important and we couldn't waste any time. I was glad for that.

Edward and I hopped into the limo that us kids rented, and we were just going to let them go back to the hotel with Carlisle and Esme. As Edward directed the driver to the nearest airport, I took out my phone and texted Alice.

_I have a big family emergency involving my dad. I'm not sure of the extent yet, but I'll find out soon enough. Edward wanted to come with me. I wasn't going to let him, but I didn't have time to argue. Take Carlisle and Esme's limo back to the hotel, we took ours. Sorry. We will call you when we get to Forks. _

_~Bella_

After I sent it, all of my thoughts were clouded over by thoughts of my dad. Charlie. I hoped with all of my heart that he was okay. The last three words that I had said to him were "I hate you."

I don't think I could live with myself if I knew that those were the last words he heard from me before he died. Because they were not true. Lies. Gross, dirty lies. I couldn't even believe I ever said that. But I had, and I couldn't take it back.

The only way that I could live with myself after that is if I fixed it. But I couldn't do that if anything extremely bad happened to him. I needed him healthy for that. So the entire limo ride I was praying that he was fine.

But by the sound of my mother's voice, I wasn't so sure about that.

I didn't look at him at all, but I could tell that Edward had been staring at me. But as much as I tried, I couldn't wipe the look of dread off of my face. Just for Edward's sake I would try to cover it up, but there was really no use. After all, this was Charlie I was talking about. And the worst part is that I didn't know what was _wrong _with him, so I couldn't help but think the worst.

We got to the airport, and Edward demanded two tickets for the first flight to Forks. The only seats available however, were first class. Now usually, I would love that. After all, everyone hates coach seating… but not this time. Because I, of course, didn't have any money with me. In fact, I didn't have anything with me, and I was still wearing my gown!

I felt so stupid sitting at the airport in the gown, watching Edward pay for my first class ticket. I felt terrible, so I kept promising to pay him back, but he said that he would refuse it. I was too worried to argue with him, but I made a mental note to pay him back whether he liked it or not.

Once we were on the plane, I started bawling my eyes out yet again. And Edward was there for me the entire time. He would wrap his arms around me and tell me that everything was going to be okay. As much as I wanted to believe him, this usually just caused a whole new round of tears.

The only time that I smiled the entire ride was when I was laughing at Edward when the flight attendant tried flirting with him. It was absolutely hilarious because she thought she was being seductive… but it really wasn't working for her.

Edward looked like he was going to be sick…that's when I started laughing at him.

But I couldn't really blame her… Edward looked amazing in his tux. I seriously didn't understand why he didn't have a girlfriend. I actually asked him about this, since I was trying to get my mind off of Charlie, and he said "Every one of my past girlfriends has been just the same. It's like they have their own social category, but I couldn't tell you what they are categorized, even if I tried. I'm so done with all of those types of girls. Like Tanya, and Jessica. The only half decent one was Rosalie, but as I've told you before, we were meant to be friends, and nothing more. When I find a girl that is better than them, and I have a chance with, I will take my chance with her… but so far they've all been the same." He said.

My response to this was "I think any girl that is better than them and you like them, they must be absolutely mental not to like you too."

He seemed quite excited about this… psh. Like he didn't already know.

I fell asleep not too long after this, and I slept without a single dream, or nightmare. I woke up with my head rested on Edward's chest, and his arms were wrapped completely around me, like he was never going to let me go. Of course, he was sleeping, and completely unconscious, so he couldn't have known what he was doing… right? He had the cutest look on his face. He looked so vulnerable when he was sleeping. He couldn't wear any mask. It was just Edward. And that's when it hit me.

When I realized the position we were in, and I saw Edward's gorgeous sleeping face, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Alice and Rose had been right. I did like Edward. Except it was more than that. This wasn't any crush…

I couldn't quite name what it was, but there was definitely something there. And I didn't understand how I didn't see it there before.

Because suddenly, I forgot all about Charlie. I forgot about my friends, and my family, and every problem I've ever had. All I could see and feel was Edward. There was no other place in the world that I would rather be, then right where I was. Here, in Edward Cullen's arms.

**Hmm. Very Very short chapter guys. I'm sorry about that. But aren't you proud of me?!?! I updated in just one weekend!!! Which actually isn't that impressive, but my dance recital is coming up and everything, so I needed to get this out like now. :] Besides, now You are all left to think about this!!! Bella FINALLY realized that she has strong feelings for Edward. Yay! **

**Don't worry, you'll find out about Charlie next chapter. Again, I'm sorry this was so short. I hadn't planned on stopping here, but I have school tomorrow, and I wouldn't have gotten this out for another week or two if I added more. **

**Please review! Your reviews absolutely mean the world to me! Thanks to everyone who will, or ever has reviewed!**

**Love,**

**Christine**


	22. Hospital Horror

**Hey guys! Thank you A TRILLION times to every reviewer! You guys are amazing! I know that a lot of you guys probably hate me for taking so long to update, especially since it's the summer, but I really don't have as much time as you might think. I really hope I haven't lost readers because of it!**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended! Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer!**

Previously: Because suddenly, I forgot all about Charlie. I forgot about my friends, and my family, and every problem I've ever had. All I could see and feel was Edward. There was no other place in the world that I would rather be, then right where I was. Here, in Edward Cullen's arms.

Bella's POV

Unfortunately however, right as I realized these feelings for Edward, the flight attendant, the same one that was flirting with Edward earlier, went over the intercom and announced that we were going to be landing, so we had to put our seatbelts on. Of course, the loud intercom woke Edward up, and let's just say I wasn't in Edward's arms much longer…

Remembering Charlie, all I wanted to do was get off this plane. Landing seemed so slow. Even Edward was impatient. Finally, however, we got off, found our luggage, and called a cab.

I quickly checked my phone, and there were 7 new text messages, and three new voicemails.

The first voicemail, from Esme, just said to please call her once we got here so that she knew that we were okay. She also hoped that whatever happened with my family turned out okay. She is so sweet. Finally, she apologized about Alice.

I wasn't sure what she meant until I noticed that 6 out of the seven texts were from her, as well as both voicemails. They all just said the same thing as Esmes, except she talked much louder and faster than Esme.

Once we were in the cab, I called Esme back. She was unbelievably okay with this whole thing. I mean with Edward flying to another state without any notice except a text. I know that my mom would be completely flipping out. Alice, however, was worried. Not about us… about my expensive dress. She called me all the way from the hotel to tell me that the dress I was wearing costs more than my car…

I didn't doubt her.

We got to the hospital and without even checking to make sure Edward was with me, I charged through the doors and demanded for my father's room. I was instructed to floor 5, Room 18. The elevator was too slow for my taste, but it was faster than taking the stairs. We finally reached floor five, and then Edward and I dodged all of the complaining people, and ran to find room 18. But a nurse stopped us before we could get in.

"Excuse me, but no one is allowed in that room right now." She said, ignoring me, but completely checking Edward out. He acted like he didn't notice, but I wasn't sure.

"But that's my father in there! Let me in!" I yelled, not caring who looked.

Now she turned her attention to me, and had a look of pity on her face. "Look I'm sorry, but no one is allowed in right now. The women whom I'm assuming to be your mother has been here all day, and the doctor even asked her to leave. I believe she's getting food right now if you'd like to see her. I will call you in once the doctor says its okay." She looked at me sympathetically.

I slowly backed away. "… Okay. Thanks…" I said before turning and slowly walking toward the seats in the waiting area. I sat down next to a guy with black hair, whose face I couldn't see because it was in his hands. He looked awfully upset. You see that a lot at hospitals.

I sat down and Edward sat next to me. The guy sitting there noticed my presence and he looked up.

Jacob.

He looked like his life was in pieces. He had tears streaming down his face from crying. Jacob was crying? I never even _imagined _Jake crying. It broke my heart.

"Bella…?" He whispered through the yells of other people at the hospital.

"…Jacob, why are you here? What's wrong? Is Charlie that bad?" I was surprised that Jake would be crying over Charlie.

"No Bells. Charlie's gonna be okay. I promise." He said, enveloping me in his arms. I was already crying, too. These words brought a little bit of hope to my heart though.

"Then what's wrong Jake? Why are you so upset?" I asked, sobbing slightly.

"It's… its Billy." He whispered.

Billy. Jake's father. I had known him since I was born. He was there with Charlie for _everything. _They were best friends. Charlie had helped Billy when his wife Charlotte died, and Billy was even there for my own birth, just like Charlie was there for Jakes.

"Wait, what happened? Is he okay? Jacob what's wrong?"

He was shaking his head for some reason I wasn't sure of. "They were out fishing. Charlie obviously drove home, and on the ride their car was hit by some drunk driver. On the passenger side." He said, staring off into space, trying not to tear up again.

"Oh, Jake. I-Is he going to be okay? Please tell me he's fine."

"… Actually, Bells… the doctors said this may not turn out well…" He said, with silent tears streaming down his face.

I pulled him into a big hug, because I didn't know what else to do. I didn't even know Billy that well, and this was painful for me. But for Jacob, it must be a million times worse.

While still hugging Jake, I looked over to Edward, who even looked upset. I knew that Edward wasn't really friends with Jake, but it was absolutely impossible while Jacob looked so sad and vulnerable, for anyone to dislike him at all.

He wiped away any remnants of tears that were left, and broke away from my embrace. He looked as if he was collecting himself, and suddenly he didn't look so vulnerable at all. He turned back into his gigantically tall, friendly, self again.

"Sorry Bells. If you could just excuse me, I'll be right back." He said, before briskly walking toward the bathroom. I forgot that guys hate to look weak in public.

Next thing I know, my mom popped out of nowhere and was sitting next to me with a coffee. She didn't look to good. Her hair was a mess, and she had large black rims under her eyes, indicating lack of sleep.

"Oh, Bella! You're finally here! Are you okay? How was your trip? I'm sorry you had to fly all the way out here, remind me to pay you back for your flight ticket. It's not fair that you should have to pay for that." She rambled on.

"Mom its okay, I'm fine. Really. And as for my ticket…" I said remembering that it was Edward who paid. "You don't have to pay me back; Edward was the one who paid for my ticket." I said, pointing to Edward. "Mom, this is my … friend, Edward. Edward, this is my mom." Notice how I paused a bit too long before saying the word friend. I think Edward might have caught that.

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Swan." Edward said, being overly polite, while putting his hand in front of her to shake.

"Oh please, call me Renee. And it's nice to meet you too Edward."

Right then, a nurse stepped out of my father's hospital room and told my mother and me that we could go in. I wasn't sure if Edward wanted to come or not.

"Umm…" I started.

"Go ahead in, Bella. That's your family. I'm gonna head down to main level to see if I can find any food." He interrupted.

"Are you sure? I mean you came all this way; I don't want you to feel like you just flew all the way here to get food. Especially icky, hospital food."

He laughed, even though I was completely serious. "Silly Bella. I flew here for you." He said, his smoldering eyes piercing into mine. They looked extremely green today… or was it just me? I'm pretty sure I stopped breathing then, but he just sent me a crooked smile, and turned to head back to the elevator.

I followed my mom into my dad's room, which he seemed to share with someone else. My dad's half of the room was furthest from the door, so I went by his "roommate" on the way to my dad. The man was Billy Black, Jacob's father, and as much as I hate to say it, he looked horrible. There were IV's and needles pricking into his arm, and he had an oxygen mask over his face. His skin was pale (well as pale as his dark skin can be). He was also hooked up to one of those heart rate machines that beeps at every heart beat. His was slow compared to my fathers, which I could hear from right through the curtains.

I tried not to stare, but he looked like he was sleeping anyway.

I reached my father's side of the room, where he was sitting up in bed, looking a whole lot better than Billy. He also had the IV's and the heart monitor, but he didn't have the gas mask, and he had most of the color in his face.

"Dad!" I cried, running toward him, and hugging him. After seeing Billy I had been so worried that he would be just as bad.

"Bella… I've missed you." He said, with little energy.

"I've missed you too dad. I'm so sorry. About everything. About our fight, and yelling at you. You know that I didn't mean it when I said that I hated you. Dad… I love you." I said, bawling my eyes out. Ever since I had gotten my mom's phone call I had been worried that the last words I would've ever said to my father were "I hate you." I couldn't even express how I felt when I found out that he was okay. And he was going to be okay, too. I could tell.

"I know Bells, I love you too." He said, smiling softly.

Suddenly I heard my mom's voice. "So where are you right now Bella? Did you end up going to the boarding school?" She asked.

"Oh, yeah. I'm sorry, I was so wrong. Everything is so much better there. See when I left I was planning on staying with Jake until you finally decided to let me stay, but when I got there… well, let's just say, that didn't work out. And we ended up breaking up. I was really upset, so I just went to the airport, and my flight had already been booked."

I sighed. "Bella, we were so worried. You should have at least called." My mom scolded.

"I know. I'm sorry… I just figured you wouldn't want to hear from me…" I sighed.

"Bella! You know that that's not true. Even if we did get in a little fight… that doesn't mean anything!" My mom said, giving me another hug.

"I know. I was stupid. I'm sorry…" I said.

"The important thing is that we're all here now." My dad said, sounding like a dad from a movie.

"Yeah… and now that we're all here, you need to explain this." I said, gesturing to his robe and the IV's.

"Oh." My dad said. "Billy Black and I went out fishing one day, and since Billy can't drive, I was in the driver's seat. We were on our way home, and as we were going through an intersection, a drunk driver in a large truck came and smashed into the truck, on the passenger side." He stopped, getting a bit emotional over his best friend.

My mom took his hand, and went on with the story. "Both your father and Billy got knocked out, and not long after I got a call telling me. By the time I got there you father and Billy were both on stretchers, being rushed here. After all of the regular examinations, they told me that your father had minor injuries only. A minor concussion and a medium case of whip lash. That was it. I couldn't even believe it! It was practically a miracle… Billy on the other hand... Well you know that he was already paralyzed from the waist down…" My mom trailed off, so Charlie picked it up to finish of the story.

"Basically… they're not sure if he's going to make it." He said quietly.

Almost on cue, the heart monitor hooked up to Billy got impossibly slower, before coming to a complete stop, and finally, one, solid, unending beeping noise.

Billy's heart stopped. He died.

**Eek. I might just have a couple of haters after that one… but at least Charlie's okay, right?! :] Don't hate me. **

**Reviews are better than Summer Vacation!**

**Love,**

**Christine**


	23. Surprising Questions

**Hey Everybody! Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed for the last chapter, although I have to say… it wasn't very many people :[ I know that it's partially my fault for the lack of update, but I was still a little upset. But I got this chapter out pretty quickly, I'd say, so I'm hoping for a bunch of reviews! **

**Disclaimer: Twilight is not mine. Never has been, never will be. Now on with the story!**

Previously: Almost on cue, the heart monitor hooked up to Billy got impossibly slower, before coming to a complete stop, and finally, one, solid, unending beeping noise.

Billy's heart stopped. He died.

Bella's POV

Ever since I was a child I had known the Blacks. I used to hang out with Jacob, as well as his two sisters. I lost touch with the girls when they went off to college, but Jake and I were always close.

I had never talked to Billy much, but Billy was Charlie's best friend. They were best friends since, who knows when. Probably before I was even born. But I had never said too much to him.

The death of Billy was painful to me, but the truth is, any death is painful to me, really. Even when Billy Mays **(A.N: R.I.P. Billy Mays) **died, I was sad. But it wasn't the same kind of sad like when you lose a puppy, or a family member, or a close friend. There was no serious pain in my heart when Billy Mays died. That's how it was with Billy (Black). Because I never considered Billy a close friend.

The only difference between the death of Billy Black, and Billy Mays, was that there was pain in my heart when Billy Black died. Only, it wasn't pain for me.

It was pain for Jake. Pain for Charlie. Pain for Jake's sisters, and anyone else close to Billy.

As I sat there, through the curtain, listening to the doctors and nurses rushing to Billy's side, and trying to keep him alive, to see if there was anything they could do, I was close to tears. Most of these tears were for Jake.

I felt bad for Charlie of course, but I could barely even think about Charlie at a time like this. Jake's _father _died. First he lost his mother, and now his father. Both of his sisters were in college, and I knew that Jake wouldn't let them come back just for him. He had no one.

Jake was alone.

As my parents hugged each other, with my mother in tears, and my dad trying to put on a brave face, even though you could see the despair on his face, I ran out of the room. Looking around quickly, I spotted Edward, coming back from the elevator with some food in his hands.

"Edward!" I called.

I think he could see the tears running down my face, because he quickly sat the food down on a bench and ran towards me.

"Bella? What's wrong??" He asked.

"I need you to do me a favor. Go into the men's room and get Jake. Hurry!" I exclaimed.

Edward didn't know what was wrong, but he knew that it was serious, so he opened the men's room door and called for Jake. I could hear his exact words.

"Jacob Black! Bella needs you! Hurry! Something's wrong!" He yelled, and sooner than I thought possible, Jake was at my side, wiping my tears.

"Bells? What's wrong?" He asked, worried about me. What he didn't know was that every tear running down my face was my own worry for him.

"Jake. It's.. it's…" I started, but I couldn't finish my story. I just pointed to the hospital room.

Jake sprinted to the door before ripping it open.

I needed to give Jake some time with his father before I saw him again, so I walked over to Edwards's food and started eating it.

Edward actually started _laughing _at me. Probably because I was eating his food without asking. But I wasn't in the mood for laughing, so when I just kept eating, he cleared his throat and stopped laughing.

He sat down next to me. "So, what happened?" He asked.

"Billy. Jake's dad. He's gone." I said, staring off into space, with silent tears rolling down my face.

Edward didn't know what to say. I sat there, slurping soup, and chewing on celery. I wasn't even hungry, even though I should be after the plane ride. I looked down and scoffed at myself. I was in a hospital, in my ball gown, eating celery and slurping soup. My hair was probably all over the place, and I most likely had mascara streaming down my face. I was a mess.

Knowing that my parents would still be here for awhile, and Jake would need some time alone, I decided that I wanted to go get cleaned up.

"Edward, do you want to come to my house to get cleaned up, and maybe change clothes?" I asked him. Edward was still in his tux, too, and even though I loved how he looked in a tux, I figured he wanted to get changed, too.

He agreed, and we called a taxi from the hospital, and finally got to my house, which I missed so much.

I invited Edward upstairs, but he decided to just clean up downstairs. I told him that I'd leave some of Charlie's clothes outside the door, but it was so awkward picking out clothes for him. I mean, they were my _dad's. _It's not like they were my brothers clothes… they were my fathers, and I was planning on having Edward, the guy that I am extremely attracted to, wear them. Ugh.

I found some old basketball shorts that Charlie has probably never worn… after all, they didn't _look _like Charlie's size. But they looked like they'd fit Edward.

It wasn't that Charlie was fat, in fact, he was thin for the most part… he just ate one too many doughnuts on the job.

There was also a plain white t-shirt that looked like it might fit Edward. I was praying to find a shirt with no stains on it, and surprisingly, the white one was clean.

I did _not _want to go through the technicalities of underwear, so I just decided to let Edward wear his own…

I left those outside the downstairs bathroom, and I went upstairs and pulled out Jeans and two tank tops, a solid orange, and a solid pink, which I was planning on layering, keeping the pink on top.

I decided last minute to take a shower, and I hoped that when Edward heard the water running he would take one downstairs if he wanted too.

We never used that shower, anyway.

After shaving, and washing my hair with my mom's lavender shampoo (my strawberry shampoo was back at the school), I got out of the warm water, and wrapped my hair in a towel.

I brushed my teeth, got dressed, and brushed my hair. After playing with it in a couple of different styles, I gave up and threw it in a messy bun. Finally, I put on my makeup, which was just some eyeliner, mascara, and some lip gloss, and I walked out. Realizing once I was outside of the steamy bathroom that it was still February, I grabbed a white sweatshirt, and my north face jacket, that I missed so much.

Once I realized this, I decided that I should probably pack more for school. The day that I left, I was so angry with my parents that I just threw random stuff in. But seeing how I missed my north face, and other things so much, I took out another suitcase, and begin packing the rest of my clothes. I also found my I pod, and decided to bring that too, since once the weather got nicer I took jogs.

In the middle of my packing session Edward called for me from downstairs.

"I'm up here Edward! You can come up!" I called. I smirked to myself, seeing how Edward hadn't wanted to come upstairs earlier. He was too embarrassed, which I found awfully amusing. Nonetheless, he slowly came upstairs, and knocked on my door.

"You can come in." He opened the door, and stepped in, taking in his surroundings. As he was doing so, I took in… _him. _I did a good job picking out his outfit if I do say so myself. The shorts, since my dad has never worn them, fit (literally) perfectly, and the shirt was a bit big, but I could still see his muscles through it.

As I was still staring at his abs, he smirked, and I blushed, knowing that I was caught ogling him.

"You know," He said, kneeling down, "Your blush is beautiful." He said, touching my cheek. This, of course, just made me blush harder. He laughed.

"I'm not sure so much if you think it's beautiful, or comical, cause seriously, you laugh every time." I said, also laughing this time.

"I mean it, though, your beautiful." He said giving me my favorite crooked smile. _What?!!?!?!?! Edward Cullen thinks I'm beautiful?!?!_

"W-What…?" I asked smiling. I almost felt like laughing… this had to be a joke or something.

"I'm serious!" He said, still holding my favorite crooked smile. "You're beautiful, and smart, and caring, and funny… I could go on forever. I know that this is a bad time with your dad, and Billy, and everything, but I just can't wait any longer… will you be my girlfriend?"

**Yikes!!!! Now, after this chapter (even though its kinda short,) I KNOW that I deserve reviews!!! Tell me what you think about Edward FINALLY telling Bella how he feels. By the way, I know that that seemed kind of out of the blue, but you've known that Edward has had feelings for Bella for awhile now, so you had to be expecting it at some point :] **

**Please review!?! :] **

**Love, **

**Christine**


	24. Sad Small Smiles

**Hey world :] Sorry it's been awhile. Lots of dance, and summer work has held me back :p That, and I'm unusually lazy this summer :] haha. I would probably feel guiltier if I had more reviews… but I don't. (But for everyone who did review THANK YOU!!! It means so much!) **

**Disclaimer: Twilights STILL not mine :p haha**

Previously: "I'm serious!" He said, still holding my favorite crooked smile. "You're beautiful, and smart, and caring, and funny… I could go on forever. I know that this is a bad time with your dad, and Billy, and everything, but I just can't wait any longer… will you be my girlfriend?"

Bella's POV

This is what I had been waiting for… hoping for… practically _praying _for, ever since I realized that I was in love with Edward. I had never actually expected it, but I begged god nonetheless.

Truthfully, I couldn't even believe it was happening. I mean, Edward Cullen – _the _Edward Cullen – asking _me _to be _his _girlfriend. I thought it was some kind of sick joke, or something. I thought maybe I was being punked. I actually looked around for a second to make sure Ashton wasn't about to pop out of a closet with his camera crew.

This is the same Edward Cullen who I believed was a huge jerk when I first met him. The one that dated girls like Jessica and Lauren. Even Rosalie. But not me. I would've never pictured Edward with someone as plain and boring as me.

And yet, here he was, sitting next to me, melting me with his smoldering eyes, waiting patiently for my answer.

I decided that I better answer him quickly before he takes back his offer, but I didn't know what to say… so instead, I kissed him. It was a passionate, amazing, kiss. Short, but sweet, you know? Ever since truth or dare, in the back of my mind, this was how I pictured a perfect kiss.

When I pulled back, I was smiling, and he was wearing my favorite crooked smile.

"You don't even know how long I've wanted to do that." He said.

"And you don't even know how much I've wanted you to ask me that. Of course I'll be your girlfriend." I said. Then he kissed me again.

Then he pulled back, embarrassed when he realized where we were. We were still in my bedroom. I just laughed at him.

I finished packing my things, and I noticed we were both smiling the whole time.

I didn't pack everything, because after shopping with Alice and Rosalie I already have almost everything that I needed, so I only filled one suitcase. Once we were packed and ready to go, I started walking towards the stairs, but Edward stopped me and took my suitcase for me like the gentleman he is. I protested, but in the end, Edward won… shocker.

"All I want to do is hold one of my _girlfriend's _suitcases. It's no big deal, and I _really _want to." He had said, smoldering me with his eyes. I couldn't say no after that. It was impossible.

Calling a taxi was easy from the hospital, but there was no way a taxi was going to randomly come down my street, so I decided to bring my old truck back to the hospital. It was a red Chevy pick-up that was old and loud, but I've loved it ever since my 16th birthday when I got it. I had driven it to the airport the day I left, and I guess when my parents found out where I had gone, they must have picked it up using the spare key that I leave under my mattress.

The minute I started the truck, Edward started laughing at me. Well, actually, he started laughing at the truck. It was _so _loud! Even louder than I remembered! I guess that not driving a car for over a month was probably bad for it… and I wasn't sure how much more this truck could take.

Edward read my mind. "Bella, seriously, I think you need to get rid of this old thing." He said chuckling.

"Excuse me, Edward, but it is not a _thing._ A friend of my dad's gave it to me. And I love it." I said matter-of-factly. I decided to leave out that it was Jakes old truck, and Billy was the friend of my dad's. **(A.N. Remember that in this story Jake is Bella's age, so he had the truck before her in my story :] )**

Edward just laughed and said "Whatever you say Bella…" He joked.

Despite my worries, and what Edward said, we got to the hospital successfully. Slowly… but successfully.

Jake was back in the waiting room when I came back. He looked terrible. Absolutely terrible. I sat down next to him, and he managed to give me a small, sad smile. "Hey Bells."

"Hi Jake…" I said, unsure of exactly what to say."

"They're seeing if there is anything they can do for them… I couldn't watch it." He said sadly.

"I'm so sorry Jake." I said, hugging him. I knew Edward would understand, so I didn't worry about it.

"Yeah, well, there's not much else for me to do. If I could help him, or change the way this happened, I would. I mean, he was already injured… how could God let this happen? I just wish that it had been me in the truck, rather than him." Jake said remorsefully.

"Jake stop that!" I said. "I know that you wish it hadn't happened… we all do. But life goes on. I know that's probably not what you want to hear right now, but it's the truth. And you'll be okay Jake. I promise." I said, really hoping that I was helping, instead of making it worse.

"How? How can you possibly know that?" He asked, the volume of his voice growing. "He was practically all I had, Bella. My sisters are off at college. They're on a plane now, coming to see him, but they will be going back to college at some point! And I refuse to have them stay home on my behalf!" He said, still with a loud voice. But I could tell he wasn't done yet. "And as for my mother, well you already know. She died as I was being born. I practically killed her!" He said, his eyes welling up with tears. I had never seen Jake, or any guy for that matter, this upset. It broke my heart.

"Jake… please don't say that. You know as well as I do that what happened to your mother was nobody's fault. It was an accident. Just like this. Please don't beat yourself up over it. It kills me to see you this upset." My eyes were getting watery, too.

"I know that there was nothing for me to do to stop it. But that doesn't make it any better. Whether I could help it or not, I'm the reason she's not here. And my father was all that I had left, other than my sisters. But if they dropped out of college for me I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to live with the guilt of all of this." He said, now much quieter. I noticed Edward moved to one of the seats further away, and he was reading a magazine. He was just being polite.

"Jake. Please stop blaming yourself about your mother. And if your sisters don't stay with you, what are you going to do? Where are you going to live with? Jake, you're barely 17. You can't live by yourself." I said sadly.

"I know. But I'm not going to be the reason that my sisters don't get an education. I'll figure something out. I promise." He said. "Thanks for caring Bella. Besides my sisters, you really are the closest thing I have to family." He said, smiling sadly again.

I smiled back at him. I was glad that he felt that close to me, but also, I had an idea.

**Hmm, what's Bella's idea? :] I'm sure some of you have probably figured it out, so please tell me what you think!! PLEASE :] haha yes, I have gotten to the point of begging for reviews. Seriously guys, I used to get a ton of reviews and they made me sooo happy. But now… not so much :[ **

**Now that the story is beginning to get more interesting with Bella and Edward together, and Bella's "idea" I WILL update more IF I get a lot of reviews! Oh, and again, forgive me! Summer work is the stupidest idea any teacher has ever had… and I have a lot of it :[ I really will try to update more! … If I get reviews :]**

**Love,**

**Christine**


	25. Emancipation

**Summer reading Is probably the worst thing that anyone has ever created. I mean, really what's the point? (It's not like we're going to forget how to read during the summer.) Anyway, I meant to get this chapter up earlier, but reading has held me back. **

Previously: "Thanks for caring Bella. Besides my sisters, you really are the closest thing I have to family." He said, smiling sadly again.

I smiled back at him. I was glad that he felt that close to me, but also, I had an idea.

Bella's POV

_2 weeks later_

"Are you ready?" I asked Jake. We were with Charlie, and Renee, ready to board the plain back to the Academy. Yes, _we. _

Edward had to leave about a week ago, right after the funeral, because his parents didn't want him missing anymore school. I myself was cringing at the thought of all the make up work I had. Saying goodbye was pretty hard. I knew that I would see him again, really soon, but my relationship with Edward just escalated the whole time we were here, so the goodbye was harder than any goodbye I had ever given to anyone. (However, my parents probably would have beat him, when I left for the boarding school, if it hadn't been for our fight.)

The funeral was beautiful, and yet so sad and depressing at the same time. I couldn't bear even looking at Jake's face. He was just in so much pain, that it was hard for everyone. Billy himself had no brothers or sisters, so Charlie actually gave the eulogy. He tried lightening the atmosphere a bit with a few jokes about Billy, and they worked for a bit, but I think in the end, it just made us all miss him more.

A few days before the funeral, I had talked to Jake about something serious, regarding where he was going to live. I had gotten the idea from a book I had read when I was 15. Jake could get emancipated.

Getting emancipated is usually when a teenager from the age 16 or up doesn't want to live with his/her parents anymore. There are many reasons why people would choose this, ranging getting kicked out, to being mistreated, to just feeling like they need some time to themselves. However, once you are emancipated, your parents no longer pay for _anything. _Not insurance, not rent, not food, or clothes. Basically, you're on your own.

It's practically like legally becoming an adult a couple of years early. In most cases however, the teen is trying to get away from parents. In Jake's case, since he really had no parents, he just didn't want to be put in a Foster Home.

Jake immediately loved the idea. He didn't want his sisters to drop out of college for him, and he thought that it would be cool to come to the Academy with me and the Cullen's. Believe it or not, even though Edward is my boyfriend, and Jake is my ex, they actually get along really well. They've only really known each other for about a week, not counting that one day with the Denali's, and I'd say they're already friends.

With Jake's money that he got from Billy's will, he was able to pay for school at the Academy. When we had called we weren't sure if he was going to get in, but let's just say Edward made a call to his parents, who recommended Jake to the Dean. They pulled some strings, and considering the amount of money they donate to the school every year, the Academy couldn't turn Jake down.

At first his sisters weren't too thrilled with the idea. Of course, they wanted to be there for him. But Jake told them multiple times that he _wanted _to go to the Academy, and he didn't want them dropping out. It took awhile, but eventually, they gave in.

As for actually _getting _emancipated, well that was a lot easier than I had expected. I was kind of expecting months of fighting to get emancipated, but according to the government officials, Jake's case was much easier than most.

First off, he had no parents left, therefore, he would either have to take this option, or be put into Foster care which costs the state money. Second, Jake had 2 family members over the age of 18 who _wanted _him to be emancipated. Usually the family is fighting it… Third, because of Billy's death, Jake had money, and the government wasn't going to have to worry about him not paying insurance, and such. Forth, he had a place to go. Not just any place, either, but a boarding school, where he wouldn't have to pay property taxes. That's one more thing that the government wasn't going to have to worry about. There were probably other reasons why Jake's case was easier and quicker than most, but this was all the officials had told us.

We did have to go to one day in court to make it official, but that one was easy. We were all for Jake getting emancipated, no one fought it, and like I said, he had many other reasons why this would work for him.

So now, here we were in the airport, ready to go to the Academy, and we were both extremely excited. We spent what seemed like forever saying goodbye to my parents, and they kept saying embarrassing things about Edward. Especially my dad. I could hear him whispering things to Jake about keeping me safe, and keeping an eye on Edward. Jake just laughed, but of course, agreed.

My mom on the other hand _loved _that I had a boyfriend and just told me to "be safe." Yeah, like I really needed to hear that one.

We then boarded the plane, and got ready for lift off…

**Hehe. A lot of you actually guessed that Jake was going to end up going to the Academy. Your all just so smart :] **

**IMPORTANT NOTICE!!!!!!!!!!! As I have explained already to one of my readers, Myrle 16, this story is coming to an end… like now. :o **

**I was planning on a chapter or two more, but I think that this is going to be it. HOWEVER, before people yell at me and stuff since Jake **_**just **_**got to the Academy, I am telling you that at some point (I'm making no promises of when) there WILL be a sequel. Oh! And an epilogue coming out soon. I really really really hope that all of you have enjoyed this story, and I'm hoping since this is the last chapter besides the Epilogue, that you will all review!!! :] **

**Love,**

**Christine**


End file.
